


Lightning Strikes Twice

by IncendiaGlacies



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Gen, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-13
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-06 20:28:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 27,032
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26444896
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncendiaGlacies/pseuds/IncendiaGlacies
Summary: Gideon had fallen in love not once, but twice.  When she walked into the orphanage, she knew there had to be a special connection.  How lucky was she that she found not one, but two, that stole her heart the very first time she walked through those doors?
Relationships: Gideon & Jonas Hunter, Gideon & Martina Jackson, Jefferson "Jax" Jackson & Martina Jackson, Jonas Hunter & Rip Hunter
Comments: 36
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea how long this will be as it is a very big world with many ideas, so here's hoping for a good fic.

Gideon had fallen in love not once, but twice.

She had never had a family of her own and had quickly decided once she turned eighteen, finding her way in the world, she would build one of her own. As soon as she graduated with a degree in computer science and found a stable job, she started taking all the necessary steps to have a family. Perhaps it wasn’t the old-fashioned biological way, but she didn’t need to depend on any man to bring her happiness. She would make her own, and provide for a child as well.

When she walked into the orphanage, she knew there had to be a connection, something no adult had felt with her as a child. She knew that she would keep trying until she found the one child to take home. How lucky was she that she found not one, but two, that stole her heart the very first time she walked through those doors?

* * *

Jonas took a deep breath and walked down the stairs, only to run head first into his little sister.

“Teeny!”

“I don’t think we should ask her now,” Teeny said worriedly. “She’s crying.”

“What? Why? What did you do?”

“I didn’t do anything!” Teeny glared at him. “She’s already worked up. You know how Mum gets. She cried when you had a growth spurt and she had to buy me my first bra.”

“She’ll be more hurt if we don’t ask.”

Biting her lip, Teeny finally nodded and pushed Jonas forward. “If we’re doing this, I’m happily throwing you under the bus if it doesn’t work out.”

Jonas rolled his eyes and slowly they crept forward to where their mother was sitting on the sofa, crying as she watched a soap opera.

“Mum, seriously?” Jonas groaned. Every single time!

Gideon quickly wiped her eyes and blew her nose. “I’m fine. It’s very emotional, Jonas!”

Jonas shook his head while Teeny ducked under his arm and went straight into her mother’s arms. Gideon kissed the top of her head and looked between the two.

“Uh oh. You have your serious face on. What’s wrong?” Gideon asked.

“I don’t have a serious face,” Jonas said.

“You do. You had it the day I met you too. Refused to let Teeny out of your sight.”

Jonas shared a look with Teeny and took a seat next to his sister. “Mum, we – we need to talk to you.”

Gideon inched back so she could see Teeny’s face properly. “Oh, this is serious. Is this about The Talk? Because I can get the books again and we can discuss-”

“Mum, no!” Jonas went red at the thought. “You and Ray did enough!”

“I’m just saying that consent is important, Jonas-”

“Mum!”

“Okay!” Gideon raised her hands in surrender while Teeny giggled.

“Yeah, Jonas. Consent is important. Remember that when you take Sara to the dance.”

If looks could kill, Jonas would have incinerated his sister on the spot with his glare. “Tattletale!”

“Sara? What about Sara? What dance? Jonas?”

“Mum, it’s not a big deal. I just have a date-”

“What do you mean you have a date?” Gideon’s eyes welled up with tears. “But – you’re a baby-”

“I’m sixteen!”

“You learned how to drive like yesterday!”

“It’s been two months. You make me drive Teeny around now.”

“A date? Why didn’t you tell me you had a date? I – I could have given you advice, or something!”

Jonas gave his mother an unimpressed look. “Mum, seriously, when was the last time you had a date?”

“Excuse you! I date! Occasionally, sometimes, it’s been a while,” she backtracked. “Excuse me for putting the two of you first!”

Jonas looked at Teeny who nodded. It was now or never. “Yeah, we need to talk about that, actually.”

Gideon’s eyes widened. “Oh, darling, I didn’t mean it in a bad way. I love you two so much. You’re my-”

“Your sun and moon and stars,” Jonas said quietly. He remembered how she would tuck them in at night with those words, always close by whenever they had nightmares. “And you are the best mum ever, really. But Teeny and I have been talking and…we’re ready, Gideon.”

Gideon swallowed roughly, eyes stinging with tears. “Oh?”

“We want to know who our birth parents are,” Teen said just as quietly.

Gideon nodded to herself and Jonas waited for it to hit her properly. They had both been old enough when they were adopted to know that Gideon wasn’t their real mother. When she took them in, she had promised to love them and care for them no matter what, even if one day they wanted to know everything. All she’d asked for was a chance and to wait.

Now they were ready.

“Wait here,” Gideon said quietly. She got up and kissed both their heads. Teeny stared at the table.

“Think she’s gone to cry?” she asked guiltily.

“I hope not.”

They both stared blankly ahead, trying not to think about how they’d probably broken their mother’s heart. A few minutes later, Gideon returned with a box. She placed it on the table in front of them and sat in between them.

“This is everything I have from the orphanage when I got you.” Gideon opened the box and set aside the dusty cheap toys they’d provided her with. She dug through the box and pulled out some papers. “Your birth certificates.”

She laid one out in front of Jonas. He stared at the neat penmanship of _Rip Hunter_ and _Miranda Coburn_. Those were his parents. His birth parents.

Gideon put the other one in front of Teeny. There was only one name on it. _Lucille Bowman_.

“What about my dad?” Teeny asked.

“I’m sorry darling, I don’t know.” Gideon swallowed again. “Um, they told me that both your parents were young when they had you. Teeny, baby, your mother was only seventeen. It’s possible she never even told your dad.”

“Oh.” Teeny stared sadly at the paper.

Gideon wiped her tears. “Listen, I’ll – I’ll call the adoption agency tomorrow, see if they can give me any information. But you both have to understand, it was a closed adoption. There is a chance, a very good chance unfortunately, that…they won’t want to see you,” she finished with a whisper.

“Mum…” Jonas trailed off.

“We’ll still try, baby. Okay?”

“We love you, Mum. A lot.”

“Lots and lots,” Teeny added, hugging her. Jonas quickly joined in, hugging her other side.

“I love you both too. My sun and moon and stars.” She just wasn’t ready to lose them yet.

* * *

_Gideon followed Eve slowly with the other parents through the play place. It felt so strange on this side, as if she were wandering through a zoo, trying to pick a child out. She didn’t like it. How had she not noticed this as a child?_

_“You’re all welcome to look around. I know it seems strange at first, but adoption days like today are really one of our biggest hopes for all these kids,” Eve said, leaving them behind._

_Gideon watched as most of the couples gravitated to the younger kids. Suddenly, a heavy feeling overwhelmed her. Her heart turned to rock as her memories flashed before her, remembering how every single one of these stupid days had left her alone over and over again._

_Breathing deeply, she moved to the side, trying to catch her breath and make the dizziness go away. Feeling faint, she took a seat on the bench and counted backwards from ten. She made it to five when something hit her knee. Cracking an eye open, Gideon saw the cutest little girl. Brown skinned, curls flying all over, and the warmest brown eyes._

_“Are you sweeping?” she asked, holding up the dolly in her hand._

_“Teeny, no!” A little boy ran over, grabbing the little girl’s hand. He looked at Gideon and then the girl, quickly shielding her from Gideon. “You can’t hit people,” he said. “They get mad.”_

_“Oh, I’m not mad,” Gideon reassured the young boy. She watched as he protected the little girl. Gideon wished someone had done that for her. “What’s your name?”_

_“Jonas.”_

_“Jonas, nice to meet you. And Teeny, was it?” she asked._

_The little girl nodded. She stepped forward and grabbed Gideon’s hand. “Wanna pway mewmaid?”_

_Gideon nodded and followed her to their little play place. It was a small set up, filled with the standard cheap toys one would expect. She sat cross-legged and listened as Teeny explained the rules of the game. Jonas sat with them, drawing on a piece of paper. Gideon’s eyes wandered over it, seeing the scribbles of what looked to be a red dinosaur._

_“That’s very good,” she said gently. “Do you like dinosaurs?”_

_Jonas was clearly the quieter of the two. Gideon looked into his green eyes and saw what she did every day in the mirror; a hardened wariness. He nodded and went back to the picture._

_“What type of dinosaur is it?” The parents that didn’t try were the ones that didn’t care. She remembered well how few adults took interest in her math books and little inventions._

_“A T-rex.” Jonas said the word slowly as he wrote it out. Gideon saw the crooked letters, some backwards._

_“Can you dwaw a mewmaid now?” Teeny begged._

_“Okay.”_

_“Yay!” Teeny looked at Gideon and held out a hat and scarf. “Want to pway dwess up?”_

_The toddler certainly changed her mind a lot. Gideon found it refreshing. “Of course.”_

_They played for a while. First dress up, then horses, mermaids again, cowboys, and haunted mansion. Jonas stayed by Teeny’s side, not losing sight of her. Gideon felt he only tolerated her presence but it was more than enough for her. At the end of the hour, she found Eve._

_“Did you meet anyone you liked?” Eve asked._

_Gideon nodded. “The little girl over there,” she pointed where Teeny was playing with Jonas again, “Teeny.”_

_“Martina,” Eve said knowingly. She smiled and nodded. “And you want to foster her.”_

_“Yes.”_

_“You should be aware, her medical history is difficult. She was born with a minor heart defect. You would have to be responsible for all-”_

_“I will be,” Gideon insisted. One little thing wasn’t going to scare her off._

_“Of course.” Eve looked down and shook her head._

_“What? What’s wrong?” Did Eve think she was incapable?_

_“Nothing, Ms. Rider. I was just thinking of the boy. Jonas has had a hard time being placed, always getting into trouble, acts out. He’s perfectly behaved here but-”_

_“I’m taking him too,” Gideon said. “I want both of them.”_

_Eve scoffed a little. “Ms. Rider, I don’t mean to be rude, but at your age, one child is enough. Two children under the age of ten is really not recommended-”_

_“They’re a family,” Gideon said. She looked back at how easily they interacted with each other. “You said in classes that breaking up siblings is the worst thing you can do.”_

_“Yes, but they’re not actually related.”_

_“They’re family,” Gideon repeated. “Even if they’re not blood related. Chosen family doesn’t make it any less. I’m taking them both.”_


	2. Chapter 2

_Gideon threw the rest of the trash into the bin and looked around the house once more. She fixed her hair and fluffed up another pillow._

_“Gideon, you look fine. You need to relax.”_

_Gideon turned and stared at her boss. “I still don’t understand why you’re here, Ray.”_

_“I wanted to help out.”_

_“I asked for two days off, I don’t need you hovering.”_

_“I’m trying to be supportive, like you always have been of me.”_

_Gideon took a deep breath and nodded. “Right, I’m sorry. I’m just so nervous. What if they don’t like me?”_

_“Hey!” Ray got up from his seat and pulled her in for a hug. Gideon didn’t even have a moment to tell him how inappropriate it was given how he was her superior and instead let herself sink into it. “They’re going to love you.”_

_She bit her lip. No one had ever wanted her before. These children were perfect. Gideon had known from the second she had set eyes on them that they were meant for her. But it wouldn’t have been the first time she was wrong about choosing a family._

_“Does it look kid friendly enough?” Gideon looked around the living room, analyzing the surfaces to make sure it looked playful and not cluttered or messy._

_The home visit was a big deal. They were allowing her as a single parent to foster two children under the age of ten. Gideon had taken her fostering classes, filled out the paperwork, learned first aid and CPR, put most of her money into the down payment of the house all for this moment. If everything worked out properly, she would be able to adopt the children and have a family in a year._

_“They’re going to love it.”_

_The doorbell rang and Gideon smoothed out the wrinkles in her dress before heading to the door. She fixed a grin on her face and opened the door, welcoming in the social worker and the two beloved children. Martina came first, just as she had that first day and grabbed Gideon’s arm to come and play with her. Jonas followed after, at a slower pace. At six years old and three years older than Martina, he had more memories of moving around and there was a wariness that had settled on his face that Gideon didn’t enjoy seeing. It reminded her too much of herself._

_“Please, come in, Ms. Baxter.”_

_“Eve will be fine,” the social worker told Gideon. She turned and looked at Ray. “Ms. Rider, I was under the impression you were filing as a single parent?”_

_“Oh, yes! I’m sorry! This is Ray. He is my boss and a friend but nothing more. I – I plan on doing this on my own.”_

_“But not completely. I just wanted to be here and show you that Gideon has a good support system around her and that she is perfectly capable,” Ray said._

_“Oh, bwocks!” Martina ran to the living room and toppled over a tower of wooden blocks. “Jonas, come pway!”_

_“Teeny, no!” Jonas looked up at Gideon, a glint of fear in his eyes._

_“Oh, darling.” Gideon’s heart stuttered at the thought of how he must have been mistreated at such a young age already. Gideon remembered it didn’t always get better. She got to her knees so she could look at him in the eye. “It’s okay. I got them for you and…Teeny.” She had noticed the first day that the little girl only responded to the nickname Jonas had given her. “Why don’t you go play with her? You can if you want to. And if you want to play anything else, I’ll get it.”_

_Slowly, Jonas moved to Teeny and helped her stack the blocks again. Eve cleared her throat, bringing Gideon’s attention back to her._

_“Oh, I’m sorry.” Quickly, Gideon stood up._

_“I’m sure you’re aware that you are not their first foster parent?” Eve asked._

_“Yes, I am. But I’m completely up to it.”_

_“They can be a handful but should be better behaved since they’re together.”_

_“I’m sure they’ll be splendid.”_

_Eve sighed. “Ms. Rider, it’s no secret that you are much younger than our usual pool of applicants.”_

_“I know but this is what I want. Truly.” Gideon felt it in her heart already, these children were meant to be hers. She already loved how Teeny’s corkscrew curls fell in her face even when the little girl tried to push them back, the little dimple on her chin. She had fallen in love with Jonas’ sea green stormy eyes, the way he always protected the toddler even though they weren’t blood related. He had chosen his family just like Gideon was._

_“I wish you all the best.”_

_“Excuse me, is this all they have?” Ray asked, staring at the garbage bags filled with their clothes and personal belongings._

_“Afraid so.”_

_Gideon winced, remembering the conditions of moving from house to house all the time. She had already put time in the calendar to take the kids shopping on the weekend if they wanted._

_“I’ll be back in a week to see how they’re settling in,” Eve said._

_“Yes, thank you.” Gideon helped Eve to the door, finally able to breathe again. She tiptoed back to the living room, admiring the children playing._

_“Do you wanna pway?” Teeny asked sweetly._

_“You don’t have to,” Jonas said._

_“Oh, but I would very much like to, if that’s okay with you?” Gideon asked hopefully. She sat down next to them and stacked the blocks with them. Ray sat on the sofa and watched them as Jonas eyed him suspiciously. “What’s wrong?” Gideon asked._

_“Is he your boyfriend?” Jonas asked._

_Gideon blushed, wondering how Jonas already knew of such things at such a young age. “No, no, darling. He’s my boss, a friend.”_

_“So he won’t be staying?” Jonas asked unsurely._

_“Jonas,” Gideon looked at him seriously making sure not to crowd his personal space, “I promise you, no one will stay here if you don’t want them to. This will be your home too, if you want it to be.”_

_Jonas looked back at the blocks and Gideon knew he didn’t quite believe her._

_“In fact, would you like to see your bedrooms?”_

_“Okay.”_

_“Teeny, would you like me to carry you?” Gideon asked._

_“Otay!” She raised her arms and Gideon immediately picked her up._

_“Ray, can you get their things?”_

_“Got it!”_

_Gideon held out a hand for Jonas which he took tentatively. Slowly, she led them up the stairs and opened the first door. “This is Teeny’s room.” It was a soft blue colour, the bed a seafoam green. Teeny had liked mermaids, Gideon remembered._

_“Big!” Teeny squealed._

_“And I’m afraid you’ll both have to share the bathroom now. But it connects your rooms and I thought you might like to be close to each other.” Gideon led them through the connecting bathroom, pointing out the bathtub and double sinks before opening the door to another bedroom. This one was a subtle orange, a bigger bed than Teeny had, and had dinosaur posters and toys. Gideon had remembered how Jonas had memorized dinosaur facts. “What do you think?” she asked nervously._

_“We get our own rooms?” Jonas asked with awe._

_Gideon nodded. “You do. But if you get scared or anything, then I’m right across the hall. I’m sorry it’s not a bigger house-”_

_“It’s nice,” Jonas said. “Thank you, Gideon.”_

_Her heart soared as Jonas gave her his first real smile._

* * *

“And I’m telling you that it was unacceptable!” Gideon yelled on the phone. “We waited for over an hour, Eve! If she wasn’t going to come then she should have just said so!”

“I’m sorry to say this is how it goes with birth parents,” Eve replied sadly. “A lot of them get cold feet at the last moment.”

Gideon huffed in annoyance. At least her ingrate father had showed up to tell her he didn’t want her. “She gave Teeny hope and destroyed it. I won’t have that.”

“Gideon, we can only vet as much as we can. After that, it’s in the birth parents’ hands.”

“What about Jonas’ parents? Why is it taking so long to find them?”

“I told you, Gideon, they moved a lot, changed their phone numbers. We’re working on it, I told you.”

“Well, if they’re going to blow off a meeting then just tell them not to bother,” Gideon seethed angrily.

She remembered when she’d gotten the call that Eve had been able to contact Lucille. Gideon had talked with her through Eve, set up a meeting. When Jonas had his soccer practice, Gideon had taken Teeny to Jitters and they waited, and waited, and waited. After forty-five minutes, Teeny’s face had gone from nervous and excited to forlorn and despondent. Gideon should have sued for emotional distress.

“I understand you’re angry-”

“Over an hour! No call, no explanation, just a no show! It’s just cruel, Eve!” She breathed heavily, feeling the need to scream into the emptiness of the world. When she saw Jonas walk into the room, she quickly straightened up, giving him an apologetic look. He hated when she yelled.

“Listen, I will reach out to Lucille. If she won’t come herself, maybe I can get some information on the birth father.”

“If he even wants anything to do with her,” Gideon muttered.

“I’ll look into it for you.”

“Fine. Thank you, Eve.” Gideon hung up the phone and sighed.

“Everything okay?” Jonas asked worriedly.

“Yes, yes, sorry darling, I didn’t mean for you to hear that.” Gideon took a seat at the dining table next to Jonas and squeezed his hand. “But there might be some good news, I hope.”

“What is it?”

“Eve thinks she might be able to get some information from Lucille about Teeny’s dad.”

“And what if…”

“I don’t know.”

Gideon sighed miserably. Her worst fears had come to light. They had tracked down Teeny’s birth mother and reached out only to find that she wanted nothing to do with her child. Teeny had cried for days and still hadn’t said more than two words in a conversation. Gideon’s baby girl had her heart broken.

“And my parents?” Jonas asked quietly.

“They’re working on it still, Ray too. Looks like after you were born, they moved around a bit. A lot of their contact information changed and they didn’t leave much emergency information behind. Usually in closed adoptions, it’s harder to get the information.” They had been lucky to find out about Lucille as quickly as they did.

“Well, when you find out-”

“I’ll tell you.” Gideon pressed her finger against the woodwork of the table.

“Mum…”

“I’m fine, darling.” She stood up and headed to the kitchen.

Jonas followed her guiltily. “This is my fault.”

“What?”

“I wanted to find my birth parents and put the idea into Teeny’s head and now you’re upset-”

“Darling, I’m not upset,” Gideon insisted, wrapping her arms around him. “I’m not upset…I’m just…I’m just…scared.”

“Of what?”

Gideon’s heart jumped to her throat and she shook her head.

“Mum, what is it?”

“If – if they want you back and you both leave me then-”

Jonas hugged her tightly. Ever since he hit his growth spurt he had towered over her. “You’re my mother,” he said gruffly. “You loved us when no one else would.”

“I always will.”

“I know. We chose you too, remember?”

“I remember.” Gideon wiped her tears and cleared her throat. “Sorry.” She cupped his cheeks and smiled. “It is never your responsibility to worry about how I feel. You take care of you and your sister and make sure she does the same for you.”

“It’s okay, Mum.”

Gideon kissed the top of his head. “Love you, darling. I’m going to go check on Teeny, okay?”

“Sure.”

She smiled and trudged upstairs, knocking twice on Teeny’s door before letting herself in. Her heart broke when she saw her baby girl curled up with her old stuffed animals.

“Teeny? Think you’re up for dinner with us tonight? It’s been a week, baby.”

“Not hungry.”

Gideon sighed and sat on the bed. Time for some tough love. She rubbed her daughter’s arm, trying to rouse her from the pile of blankets and pillows. “I know it hurts but baby, your family is still right here. You have me and your brother.”

“I know.”

“Then will you come downstairs for dinner?”

“Fine.”

“Come on, Teeny.”

“I said fine, Mum! Why can’t you just leave me alone?” Teeny yelled.

“Oh baby.” Gideon lied down next to her and hugged her tightly, letting her cry into her arms. “I am never going to leave you alone, not ever.”

“Why didn’t she even want to see me?” Teeny sobbed.

Because she was a coward, Gideon thought harshly. “Because you are the sun and moon and stars. You shine so brightly, so beautifully, vast and ever expanding, it would have been too much for her.”

“Mum,” Teeny laughed wetly, “you’re so cheesy.”

Gideon kissed her curls. “Because I love you. Because you are my daughter, no matter what some stupid silly birth certificate says, you’re mine.” Gideon’s voice broke. “You’re my daughter. She might have given birth to you but I am the one that loves you. Forever and always.”


	3. Chapter 3

“Mum is going to kill us,” Jonas said, putting the car into park. Gideon had been clear with the rules when she had agreed to getting him a car. School and back, run errands, take Teeny to piano practice, he could go to soccer practice, and only in emergencies. So, in short, she was going to kill them.

“I don’t care,” Teeny said firmly, mouth in a scowl. “I have to meet him, Jonas.”

“This is dangerous. Do you realize that? We promised Mum we would do this properly.” Jonas regretted the moment he’d told Teeny about her birth father against his mother’s wishes. She was the one that hatched this harebrained plan…and he went along with it. Dead. They were dead.

“And what if he decides he doesn’t want to see me either?” Teeny asked. “It’s not fair if he hasn’t even met me, Jonas. Mum says everyone deserves a chance.”

“Okay, okay, we’ll go.” Jonas turned off the ignition and sighed. Together they got out of the car and slowly walked into the garage. “You’re sure this is the place?”

“Yeah, I heard Mum talking to Eve on the phone.” Teeny’s hands trembled around the paper she held.

“Can I help you?” A man came out from the back, wiping his hands on a rag. “Got a car that needs looking at?”

Teeny grabbed Jonas’ hand as he stared dumbly at the man in front of them. Already, he could see Teeny in the man. The same eyes, lips, furrow in the brow.

“Go on,” Jonas whispered to his sister. “I’m here.”

Teeny looked at him with fearful eyes and then back at the man. “Um, Mr. Jackson?”

“Yes?”

“Mr. Jefferson Jackson?”

“Yes, but most people call me Jax.” he said again, more amused now. “Do your parents know you’re here?”

“Um, not really,” Teeny said, unable to lie. Mum had said it was always her best quality. Jonas gave her a little push and she glared at him. “My – my name is Martina Rider. But everyone calls me Teeny. I – I’m pretty sure that,” she took a deep breath, “I’m your daughter.”

The man’s mouth fell open as he stared at them. “This some sort of prank?”

“No – no sir!” Teeny took a step back and Jonas put his arm around her, protecting her immediately. “My mother was Lucille Bowman, do you know her?”

He stopped, pausing. “You’re Lucy’s daughter? How old are you?”

“Thirteen.”

“I – I need a minute.” Jax waved his rag, turning in circles, hand against his head. He looked back at them. “So, you’re telling me that your mom is Lucy?”

“That’s what it says on the birth certificate,” Jonas spoke up. For the first time Jax actually looked at him. “I’m Jonas, her brother. We were both given up for adoption as babies. Our mum, Gideon, raised us. Well, her and Ray.”

Jax breathed heavily. “She didn’t tell me. She didn’t tell me any of that.” He shook his head. “I didn’t know.”

Teeny nodded. She had figured as much. “So, it is true, right? I mean, you are my father?”

“Yeah, yeah, I think so.” The timing matched up. “How’d you find me?”

“Our social worker, Eve, told our mum and then…” Teeny looked down guiltily.

“Hold up, hold up, you said your parents don’t know where you are?” Jax demanded.

“She wanted to meet you,” Jonas argued.

“Yeah, and if your mom calls the cops, guess who’s in trouble? Me!”

“She’s not going to do that.” Jonas rolled his eyes. “She thinks Teeny’s in band practice and I’m at soccer.”

“I’m sorry,” Teeny said quietly, tears in her eyes. She had messed up another chance at meeting her birth family.

Jax looked worried and reached out but Jonas stood in front of her, stopping him from reaching Teeny. “No, no, don’t cry. I’m sorry too. I just – this is a lot for me, okay? Just, gimme a moment.”

“I just wanted to meet one of my birth parents.”

“One of…?”

“Lucille didn’t want to see her,” Jonas said.

“So, you came looking for me instead.”

“Your name wasn’t on the birth certificate,” said Teeny.

“Yeah, I guess it wouldn’t have been.” Jax sighed deeply.

“Why not?”

“Your mom and I-”

“If you mean Lucille then you should call her that. We already have a mum,” Jonas interrupted.

Jax nodded. “Lucy and I, we broke up. She was my high school sweetheart. I was a football player, I was gonna get a scholarship, and then I had a knee injury. College was out of the picture, so was Lucy. I was in a bad state then, broke up with her. I’m guessing she found out she was pregnant after. I worked here at the garage, once I had enough money, took some courses, earned my degree, bought out the garage.”

“So, you really didn’t know about me?” Teeny asked.

“I lost my dad when I was a baby, never knew him. You gotta believe me, I’d never want that for my own child,” Jax said earnestly.

“You should come to dinner.”

“Teeny!” Jonas scolded her. “Mum is going to kill us, even more than she already will.”

“If it’s not okay with your mom,” Jax said slowly. “I think it’s best I talk to her, make sure legally this is all-”

“She knows we’re looking for our parents,” Teeny said. “It’ll be fine. You can meet mum at dinner.”

Jax stared at the girl. It was clear that the rambunctiousness wasn’t something she inherited from either of her birth parents but was clearly still ingrained in her.

“Okay then. I’ll come to dinner.”

* * *

“Bad idea. This is a bad idea,” Jonas groaned as Teeny pushed him up the steps of the house.

“Jonas, come on! I wanna meet your family too.”

“We already have a family.” The more Jonas thought about it the less sure he was. They’d already gone behind their mother’s back once, how would she react when she knew it happened a second time? Crying, that’s what. Lots of crying and ice cream.

“I know, but you can’t tell me you’re not curious.”

Jonas stared at the door in front of him, fear setting into his bones. “What if they don’t like me?”

“Then they’re stupid. Everyone likes you. Even Saraaaaa.”

“Teeny!” Jonas blushed as he remembered the pretty girl. “I’m just saying…Mum is going to be so upset.”

“Probably.”

“You just want to bring me down to your level, have someone to share the blame with.”

Teeny shrugged easily. “We’ll tell her. Soon. Don’t you want to meet your family?”

“What if I like them more than Mum?” Jonas whispered guiltily.

Teeny rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, mimicking the stance she’d learned from Gideon at a young age. “Don’t be stupid, Jonas. No one can be better than Mum.”

He nodded, knowing she was right. Still, he was scared of meeting his actual biological mother. Teeny sighed and stepped forward, ringing the doorbell.

“Teeny!” Jonas hissed.

“You weren’t going to do it! You were going to chicken out.”

“You don’t know that!”

“You were.”

“Was not.”

“Was too.”

“Was not!”

“Was-”

The door opened and both Jonas and Teeny immediately silenced themselves. Jonas’ mouth went dry at the man before him. They had the same eyes, same sandy brown hair. Teeny elbowed his side and Jonas winced.

“Right,” he muttered. Jonas cleared his throat, trying to remember the words he’d practiced. “I-I’m sorry to bother you. My name is-”

“Jonas?” the man whispered, reaching out for him.

“You know who he is?” Teeny piped up.

The man blinked a few times and stepped back, clearing his throat, running his hand through his hair; a nervous tick Jonas had too. “Yes, yes, you – come in, both of you. Please.”

Teeny pushed her brother in as his feet seemed planted on the spot. “You have a very nice house, Mr. Hunter,” she said sweetly. Her mother had taught her how to sweet talk just about anyone.

“I see you already know who I am, that-that’s good. You can call me Rip. And thank you, Miss?”

“My sister, Martina – Teeny for short.”

“Ah, good. I didn’t realize Brian and Samantha adopted again.” Rip led them to the living room.

Jonas stopped and stared at him. “Who?”

“Your parents?” Rip blinked at them. “The people that adopted you?”

Jonas shook his head, not understanding what he was saying. “Noooo.”

“You were adopted before? Does Mum know?” Teeny asked. Jonas shrugged in response.

“What do you mean before? We gave you up to the Hendersons.”

Jonas shook his head again. “I don’t know any Hendersons. Our mum, Gideon, adopted us both at the same time. She fostered us and took us in. My name is Jonas Rider.” Not Henderson.

“You don’t know – they gave you up?” Rip’s voice was sharp enough to make Jonas and Teeny both flinch back. Immediately, he stepped back. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I just – we didn’t know – I didn’t know. We were trying to give you a better life. How long were you in the orphanage for?”

“I met Gideon when I was six.”

Rip sighed softly. “Less time than what I spent then.”

“You were adopted too?” Teeny asked.

Rip nodded. “My mother Mary took me in when I was about eight.”

“Our Mum raised us on our own, well, with Ray’s help.”

Jonas looked around the room, looking for his birth mother.

“What is it?” Rip asked.

“I just – where’s…Miranda?”

Rip inhaled sharply. “I’m so sorry. She died three years ago. Cancer, unfortunately.”

“Oh.” Jonas’ heart dropped to his stomach. He hadn’t realized how badly he wanted to meet his birth mother until this moment, even as he told himself he already had a mum. “I’m sorry.”

“She would have loved to meet you,” Rip said softly. “We used to imagine it, together. Though, I don’t think either of us ever really thought it would happen.” He stepped closer to Jonas, tentatively placing a hand on Jonas’ shoulder. It took all of Jonas’ willpower and Teeny holding his hand not to step away. “You look so much like me…luckily have your mother’s nose.”

Jonas pulled away. “I have a mum,” he stated tightly. “A mother that didn’t give me up!”

Rip nodded, taking a step back as well. “I didn’t mean-”

“I mean, she loves me and you people clearly didn’t-” Hot rage coursed through Jonas. This wasn’t like Jax who hadn’t known. These people had willingly given him up.

“Oh, Jonas, we did. We really did,” Rip whispered. “But we were young. We didn’t have jobs, no future prospects, we had no idea how to provide a good life for you. I know it’s not an excuse, but we truly thought we were doing the best thing giving you up. I had a good adopted mother, and we thought by giving you up from birth, you’d have the best life. And that when the time was right, and we were lucky enough, you might seek us out again. If we had known the Hendersons were going to give you up…I swear, we only wanted what was best for you.”

“Gideon’s what’s best for me.”

“I’m glad. I’m sorry it took so long, but I am happy you found a family. Your mother, that is, Miranda, would be happy too.” Rip got up and pulled his wedding picture from the mantle. “Here, that’s her.”

“She’s pretty,” said Teeny, staring at the picture.

“Yeah,” Jonas said numbly.

“We got married after you were born, a couple of years after. It hurt to stay here so we moved around a lot. But no place really felt like home. I think we always knew something was missing.”

Jonas stayed quiet, his anger fading just as quickly as it had come onto him.

“I know I have a lot of trust to build, and I am grateful, the luckiest man ever to have this chance, should you give it to me. I won’t try and be your father if that’s not what you want, but I would very much like the chance to get to know you, Jonas.”

Jonas chewed his lip and looked down. “You can start at dinner.”

“Really?”

He nodded. “You should meet Mum. Then maybe we can go from there.” If Gideon didn’t kill him first.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Last pre-written chapter so updates will be slower after this

“Are we in trouble?” Jonas asked as he and Teeny walked in. He dropped his school bag and Teeny followed suit. It wasn’t that it was unusual to see Ray in their home but it was his mother’s tightened expression that worried him. Had she found out about how they went behind her back already?

“No, darling. Come on, the two of you, we need to talk.” Gideon gestured them in and patted the seat next to her on the sofa. Teeny zipped through, always wanting to get the first hug. Jonas paced slowly and sat down on the sofa, still watching his mother warily. “Honestly, Jonas, I said you weren’t in trouble. Do I lie to you?”

“No,” he admitted quietly. But some habits were hard to break, even after a decade of living with their mum.

Gideon reached out and cupped his cheek, giving him a soft smile. “Ray and I have good news, really.”

“Then why do you look so sad, Mum?” asked Teeny.

“I’m not sad. I’m not!” Gideon rolled her eyes and took the papers from Ray, ignoring his annoyed cry. “It’s good news. Truthfully, I wanted to wait a little longer but it wouldn’t be fair to you. Between Eve and Ray working on it, we were able to find your birth parents and Teeny’s birth father.”

“Oh,” Jonas said quietly. Both he and his sister stared at the walls, not able to face their mother.

Gideon nodded, her expression falling again. “And – Jonas, darling, I’m so sorry. Your birth mother, she passed away a few years ago.”

“I know,” he responded before he could process the words.

Gideon blinked. “You – you know.” She shared a look with Ray who shrugged. “Did you two look through the papers? You know those are confidential.”

“Technically, they are our birth parents and we have a right to know.”

“That’s not an excuse, Jonas.” Gideon turned her attention to Teeny who was kicking the floor and fidgeting with her hands. “Teeny, is there something you would like to tell me?”

She shook her head.

“Martina.”

“We might have done a bit more than just look at the papers.”

“Teeny!” Jonas hissed. His sister couldn’t keep a secret to save her life.

“How much more?” asked Gideon, her voice tight.

“We might have met them.”

“Might have?”

“We did.”

“You – you-” Gideon’s eyes bugged out. “I only got the information on Monday.”

“We went yesterday and the day before,” Jonas admitted guiltily.

“I don’t understand. How could you be so reckless? What if you had gotten hurt? What if they were bad people that kidnapped you? We had the stranger danger conversation, didn’t we? That was a very unsafe choice. You should have told me, or waited, I would have set up a meeting with them over the weekend through the proper channels and-”

“And given them a chance to change their mind again?” Teeny asked, tears in her eyes.

“Honey, not everyone is like that. You should have let me take care of it.”

“Yeah, like you did with my mother. Or the couple that adopted Jonas and then gave him up again. Adults always change their mind.”

“What?” Gideon’s voice was quiet but sharp enough to cut through steel. “What couple?” When neither of them answered she asked again. “What couple, Jonas?”

“Rip – my dad – father,” Jonas stopped trying to find the right word and simply pushed on, “said something about how they had given me up to a couple when I was born. I guess they decided to give me back.”

Gideon got up and walked out of the room.

“Uh oh,” Teeny whispered.

“Gideon?” Ray called, having been quiet up until now. “Gideon, what are you doing?” He raised a hand at the kids to keep them where they were and followed after their mother to the kitchen. “Gideon, no! No!”

“Let me go, Ray! I am going to give them a piece of my mind! How dare they hurt my baby like that! He’s not some toy, he’s not bloody expendable! Put me down! Eve has it coming! First Lucille and now this! My babies deserve better! Eve should have told me about this! What kind of place are they running here? Put me down!”

Ray came back in the room, holding a shrieking Gideon over his shoulder in a fireman’s hold. “Gideon, please think of the children!”

“I’m doing this for the children!”

Sighing, he turned around so she could see them properly. Gideon moved her hair, quickly quieting down when she saw the worried looks on her kids’ faces.

“Sorry,” she murmured. “I didn’t – you just – you deserve better than that.”

“And we will talk to Eve, but you have to be calm about it, Gideon,” Ray said again.

“It’s okay, Mum. Really. I got you and Teeny instead. It’s their loss,” Jonas insisted.

“It is.” Gideon swallowed the lump in her throat. “Ray, I’m ready to come down now.”

Ray placed her back on the floor gently. She sat down between her kids and cupped her son’s face. “You know I want you, don’t you? I love you and will always want you, even if those idiots didn’t.”

“Gideon,” Ray warned.

“It’s true and I should be allowed to say it!”

“I know, Mum. I know.”

Gideon kissed Jonas’ head followed by Teeny’s. Taking a deep breath, she cleared her throat. “So, you met your birth fathers?”

Teeny nodded, more remorseful this time. “I’m sorry, Mum. It was my idea. I saw the printout and wrote it down, then told Jonas to take me.”

“Oh baby. I wish you would have waited. If something had happened to you…” Gideon shook her head. “So how was it? How were they?” Her voice trembled.

Jonas shrugged. “All right, I guess.”

Gideon squeezed his hand. “Well, the important thing is you don’t have to see them again if you don’t want to. It was just the once, a cathartic experience I’m sure, but now we can put it behind us.” Her voice was cheerful and optimistic once more. There would be no more chances of them breaking her kids’ hearts. They were safe.

Then she saw the guilt on their faces. “Now what?”

“We might have invited them to dinner,” Teeny said sheepishly.

“Might have?”

“We did,” Jonas said.

Gideon blinked, speechless.

“But we did it on the same night, so you only have to cook once,” Teeny said brightly as Jonas groaned at her words.

“Cook? I have to cook?” Gideon’s face blanched. “When did you invite them for?”

“Saturday.”

“This Saturday?”

“Yes.”

“It’s Thursday now.”

“Well, look at it this way, we could have told you on Friday,” Jonas pointed out.

“You expect me to cook and clean and be ready to meet your birth fathers in forty-eight hours?”

“The kids will help. And so can I,” Ray said, rubbing her shoulders, hoping to ease the tension. Gideon shrugged him off.

“When exactly were you going to tell me?” she demanded.

“Um…we hadn’t thought that far,” said Teeny.

“Don’t you always say the ends justify the means?” Jonas pointed out. “Beg for forgiveness rather than ask for permission?” And they would be begging. A lot.

Gideon groaned loudly, covering her face with her hands.

“Mum?”

She was going to have to cook for these people! Gideon hated them already.

* * *

Rip clicked the button on his car keys, made sure his car was locked and gripped the bouquet of flowers tightly. He made his way up the path and stopped suddenly as he saw another man exiting his car down the street, flowers in his hand as well. They both stopped and stared at each other.

“Sorry, do I have the right…” Rip looked at his phone, making sure his GPS had taken him to the proper house. Exact place Jonas had told him. The other man checked his own phone and looked up at Rip.

“Are you here to see Gideon too?”

“Yes. You?”

“Yeah, I’m Martina’s – Teeny’s – dad. Jefferson Jackson, Jax.” He held out his hand.

Rip took it, shaking it a bit too hard, nerves getting ahead of him. “Rip Hunter. Jonas’ dad.”

“Right, I met him the other day.”

Rip’s heart calmed. “You just met your daughter?”

Jax looked at the ground and Rip felt like an idiot suddenly. Miranda would be scolding him about his manners.

“I’m sorry. I only just met my son too.”

“So…we’re both in the same boat. You didn’t know about your kid either?”

Rip swallowed the lump in his throat. Jax was already a better man than he was. He didn’t willingly give up his child. “No, no, I knew. We thought we were doing the right thing. We were so young, weren’t ready for a child.”

“I was seventeen.”

“I can’t imagine. We were in uni, just about to head out into the world. If we weren’t ready, I can’t imagine how you must have felt.”

“Not like she even told me. If I’d known,” Jax muttered, trailing off. He nodded at the bouquet as they walked up the path together. “So, what flowers did you go with? I went with daisies.”

“Oh, I did marigolds and lilies.” Rip hoped the family would like them. Slowly they stepped up the walk together. “I’m rather terrified,” he admitted quietly.

“Me too. My mother gave me an earful when she heard she had a granddaughter. I never knew my dad, he died when I was young. The idea that I had a child and wasn’t in her life…” Jax shook his head.

“I was adopted by a lovely woman. We knew the family that was adopting Jonas, we got to name him. If I had known they’d just turn around and give him up…” Rip gripped the bouquet tighter in anger. His son had been wronged.

The door suddenly opened and a man who was the spitting image of the description ‘tall, dark, and handsome’ stood in front of them. “Do you guys realize you’ve been standing out here for like five minutes? Were either of you going to ring the doorbell? Oh, you brought flowers. Come in!” He ushered them in. “Gideon,” he called, “they’re here. And they brought flowers.” He turned back to them. “I’m Ray by the way.”

Rip remembered the kids mentioning him. “You must be the boyfriend.”

“Fiancé, right?” Jax asked.

“Boss.”

Both men turned at the new voice, seeing a woman enter, Jonas and Teeny following her like ducklings. She was strikingly gorgeous, stormy grey eyes, dressed in a blue dress, accessorized with an apron and oven mitts. Rip couldn’t help but notice the flour on her nose.

“Best friend,” Ray corrected.

Gideon rolled her eyes and looked at the boys. “Seriously, flowers? None of you thought to bring chocolate or dessert?”

“Mum, you said you’d be nice!” Teeny whispered loudly, tugging on her dress.

She clenched her jaw and plastered a smile on her face. “Hello, I’m Gideon, Jonas and Teeny’s mother. Welcome to our home.”

Rip noted it sounded more like a warning than a welcoming. “Apologies for not bringing dessert.”

“Ray can show you the vases. He brought flowers too.”

Suddenly, a loud beeping noise interrupted the awkwardness.

“Uh oh,” Teeny said.

“Bollocks!” Gideon yelled and ran out of the living room.

“What’s happening?” asked Jax.

“Smoke detector,” Jonas said calmly. “It’s a pretty normal thing.”

“Should we-” Rip gestured towards the kitchen worriedly.

“No, that’ll just upset her more. Come on, let’s get you seated.” Jonas led them to the dining room while Ray went to go help Gideon.

Teeny brought out two more vases to accompany the one already in the center of the table. She placed the flowers in gently while Jonas set the table with plates and cutlery. Gideon came out of the kitchen, sans apron and oven mitts, looking rather disgruntled.

“Everything okay?” Jax asked.

“Yes, Ray’s got it,” she said sadly.

“How burnt is it?” Jonas asked worriedly.

“Only the top. I followed the instructions,” Gideon insisted. Rip got the feeling this was a common conversation in this household.

“Chicken pot pie was very ambitious of you, Mum,” Teeny said cheerfully. “I’m very proud.”

Gideon tilted her head, lips parted in a soft ‘aww’. Jonas rolled his eyes. “Suck up.”

“Hey!” Teeny threw a napkin at him.

“Hey, enough, put that down!” Gideon grabbed the napkin from Jonas’ hands. “No throwing things and no taunting each other.”

“He started it!”

Gideon raised a finger and gave her daughter her look. Immediately, Teeny looked chastised. The very second, Jonas’ lips turned upward, Gideon turned to him, giving him the exact same look. “Both of you, go help Ray in the kitchen. Now.”

“Yes, Mum.”

It was all very impressive.

When the kids left, both Jax and Rip stepped forward to shake her hand, words falling over each other.

Gideon glared at them both. “Sit,” she demanded.

“Yes, ma’am.” Both of them fell into the nearest chair. Gideon took a seat between them.

“Look, let’s just get this over with.” Gideon took a deep breath. “This was a closed adoption. You both signed away your parental rights. Those kids are mine,” her voice broke, “Any lawyer in their right mind would side with me. I’m their mother and I will be damned if you try and take them from me. You can’t!”

“I didn’t-”

“That’s not-”

“If they want a relationship with you both that’s fine. But if you hurt them, break their heart in any way, you will have me to answer to. Do I make myself clear?”

They both nodded.

Jax spoke up first, softly. “I missed out on so much from Teeny’s life, I didn’t even know I had a daughter. I know that’s not an excuse, that maybe I’m not ready to be a dad. But I want to try, if you’ll let me. And if not, I want to be here, for as long as she wants me.”

“And you’re right about me,” Rip said quietly. “I knowingly signed my rights away. I am extremely lucky that Jonas even wants me in his life, I know that. I will not squander this opportunity. If Miranda had been here…I don’t want to waste a second chance.”

Gideon nodded. “Any and all future meetings will be under mine or Ray’s supervision. Preferably mine, Ray gets distracted easily. I will handle all contact going forward, understood?”

“Agreed.”

“Sure thing.”

“And never forget, at the end of the day, I am their mother.”

They both nodded.

“Good.” She smiled far too brightly for it to be real. “Then let’s eat.”


	5. Chapter 5

_Gideon sighed and sat up, picking her clothes off the floor. An arm snaked around her waist and she felt lips against her shoulder._

_“Thought you’d want to cuddle?” the man asked._

_“Nope.” The quicker she left the better._

_He shifted to get a better look at her and then the time. “It’s still early.”_

_“It’s almost my kids’ bedtime. I’m always there to tuck them in.” She dressed hurriedly, trying to find out where she’d flung her bra._

_“So no breakfast?” he teased._

_Gideon laughed. “Definitely not. Don’t worry, like I said, not looking to date. Just let off some steam. Satisfying an urge, nothing more.”_

_“Is that healthy?”_

_“Do you care?”_

_He looked at her strangely. “Not particularly.”_

_“Didn’t think so.” She pulled on her blouse and gave him a parting kiss. “This was fun.”_

_“So, should I expect a phone call?”_

_“Don’t count on it.”_

_“Sure I can’t entice you for another round?” He held her wrist loosely and kissed her neck._

_“Mmm, no. My babies are waiting for me.”_

_“Thought you said the oldest was like nine now?”_

_“He is. They’re still my babies. Always will be.” She blew him a kiss and waved a bye before leaving._

_“See you next time!” he called behind her._

_Gideon got into her car and sighed. The guilt of leaving her children, even for a few hours, wouldn’t leave her. Her children came first and truthfully, there was no hole in Gideon’s heart that she felt she needed to fill with a life partner._

_She looked at the picture of her children she kept tucked away in the car and gave her kids a kiss. Gideon had everything she needed now. She was going home._

* * *

The ringing of her mobile interrupted Gideon’s work. She looked away from the computer screen, removing her reading glasses and frowned at the number. It wasn’t one she knew.

“Hello?” she answered. “If this is one of those spam calls you should know I only care for Girl Scout cookies.”

“Hi Gideon, um, Ms. Rider? This is Jax.”

“Who?” For a moment her mind blanked before recalling the voice and face.

“Um, Jefferson Jackson? Teeny’s father?”

“Sperm donor,” she muttered.

“Sorry, what was that?”

“I said yes, I remember.” She chewed her lip.

“Yeah, we met at dinner a couple weeks ago and exchanged numbers.”

“I said I remembered.” It was just that she hadn’t actually saved the numbers in her mobile. She had hoped the two so-called fathers would have forgotten about their children. They lost their rights when they gave her babies up as far as Gideon was concerned.

Jax cleared his throat over the line. “Well, I was hoping to see Teeny.”

“To do what?” Gideon asked. “Because there will be certain restrictions.”

“I was just thinking maybe we could go to the Strawberry Meadows Park? You know the one?”

“Yes, I know it.” She used to take Jonas and Teeny there all the time when they were younger.

“And I just, you know, wanted to talk to her, get to know her.”

“Yes, shame you missed out on thirteen years of that,” Gideon grumbled, mind already distracted by her work again.

“It is.”

His serious tone gave Gideon pause and she sighed, rubbing her temples. “Fine. I’m sorry.” The words came out testily but Ray had told her she had to try. “Just the park.”

“Yeah, and, well it’s just that my mom, she’s been bugging me a lot to be able to meet her grandkid, means a lot to her, you know?”

“Please tell me you’re not thirty years old and living at home with your mother.” How was he supposed to be somewhat capable of being a father? Not that Gideon needed him.

“No, we’re just close. We do weekly dinners and stuff.”

Gideon ignored the squeezing of her heart, remembering she had no one at that age, or any, to have dinner with. Not until she got her children. “Must be nice.”

“It can be.” There was a pause. “So, can I see her?”

Gideon sighed loudly. “I’ll talk to Teeny and let you know. She has piano and clarinet classes on top of her school so it would have to be early Saturday morning.”

“I can do that! Just tell me what time.”

She groaned internally. He was eager to please. He’d be harder to shake off than Gideon thought. “I’ll let you know. And I’ll be bringing Jonas as well. Teeny doesn’t like to be far from her brother.”

“That’s fine. Mom would love to meet him as well, I’m sure.”

“Very well, Mr. Jackson-”

“You can call me Jax.”

“I’d rather not. I’ll text you once I talk to Teeny, Mr. Jackson. Thank you.”

She hung up before she could hear him again. With a sigh, she saved the number under a new contact. Then went back and did the same with Rip Hunter’s number. At least he hadn’t called yet.

* * *

Gideon huffed and slammed the door to the car, counting back from ten before plastering a smile on her face. She was doing this for her children. It was for them, for Teeny. She reached out and took her daughter’s hand while Jonas and Ray exited the car, the latter carrying a picnic blanket and snacks.

“You know you didn’t have to come with us, Ray,” said Gideon.

“What if they hog all of Teeny’s attention and Jonas is left out? I’d hang out with Jonas while you watch over Teeny.”

“You realize I’m sixteen? I don’t need attention! I could have been left at home, mum!”

“What to play your videogames? I don’t think so. Besides, you’re here for moral support for your sister,” Gideon told her son.

“It’ll be boring for me.”

“Well, it’s a good thing I brought your novel for English class. We can work on the essay together while we sit and watch.”

Jonas sighed loudly and Gideon smiled, kissing his hair and ruffling it.

“What if she doesn’t like me?” Teeny asked.

“Why wouldn’t she?” Gideon asked in amused voice. “Everyone loves you.” In some ways, Teeny was the reason they were all a family.

She kicked the ground as they walked slowly. “My mother didn’t want me.”

“All for the better because you’re mine.”

“What if my grandmother doesn’t like me and tells my dad to stay away?”

Gideon really didn’t like how easily Teeny had accepted this man as her father, as her family. Taking a deep breath she placed her hands on her daughter’s shoulders. Once upon a time she’d have to kneel down but Jonas had outgrown her and Teeny wasn’t far behind. Now that she’d met both fathers, Gideon was rather put out that both her children would one day be taller than her.

“If she doesn’t like you then they don’t deserve you. And I will happily fling mud in their faces for hurting you.”

“Gideon!” scolded Ray.

“Scalding hot water sound better?” she asked sweetly.

As Ray shook her head, Teeny at least gave a small laugh so Gideon called it a win and kissed her cheek.

“Come on. It won’t be too bad. There’s four of us and two of them.”

* * *

“What the hell is this?” Gideon demanded, jaw dropping at the sight of all the people that surrounded Jax.

“Gideon,” Ray warned.

“We agreed that Teeny could meet you and your mother, not the bloody travelling circus,” Gideon seethed, glaring at Jax.

Jax raised his hands in defense. “I know, I know, and I’m sorry. It’s just that I was telling my old professor about how I found out I had a daughter and he and his family wanted to meet her too.”

“They’re not family.” Jax barely was.

“They are to me.”

Gideon continued to glare until she felt a tug on her shirt. Quickly, she put a smile on and turned to her daughter who was hiding at her side. “Yes, dear?”

“I don’t mind, Mum.”

“Are you sure?” Gideon pulled Teeny away from the group. “No one will blame you if this is too much. This was a lot for Jax to bring up the first meeting.”

Teeny shrugged. “Do you think they’ll like me?”

“Oh baby, they’re going to love you.” That’s what Gideon was more worried about. She kissed the top of Teeny’s head and brought her back to the group. “You may continue,” she told Jax in a bored tone.

Jax grinned and reached out for Teeny’s hand which she tentatively took. “Teeny, this is my mother, Helen.”

“Oh, look at you, you’re a beautiful young lady!” Helen gushed before pulling Teeny in for a hug. Gideon made to save her daughter but Ray stopped her. She glared at him. Helen pulled back and cupped Teeny’s face. “Oh, look at you. She has my ears, Jefferson.”

Gideon snorted in the background and Ray shot her another look.

“Now, you can call me grandma, gran, nana, whatever you want.”

“How about Helen,” Gideon muttered, crossing her arms. These people might have shared blood with her daughter but they weren’t her family. Jonas gave her a side hug.

“And I have a present for you,” Helen shuffled around in her big purse and pulled out a notebook and some glitter pens, “Jax told me you were a teenager now. Thought you might want a diary of sorts, something to keep your secrets from your mom.” Helen winked.

“My children don’t keep secrets from me!”

Everyone turned to look at Gideon and she blushed heavily.

“Sorry, I just, I mean – well they don’t! They know they can talk to me about anything.” Including finding their birth parents.

“She didn’t mean it like that,” Jax said hurriedly. “Really.”

“Thank you…grandma,” Teeny said quietly. She turned back and handed Gideon the presents for safe keeping.

“And Teeny, these are the Steins. My old professor Martin Stein, his wife Clarissa. Lily, their daughter, and her son, Ronnie.” Jax pointed out everyone. “And everyone, this is Jonas, Teeny’s brother, Gideon, Teeny’s mom, and Ray…sorry, did you want a title too?”

“Sometimes he’s Uncle Ray,” said Teeny.

“And their Uncle Ray.”

“It is so nice to meet you.” Martin stepped forward and shook Teeny’s hand. “When Jefferson told me he had a daughter with practically my name, it was too much of a coincidence. Some things are just meant to be, I always say. The laws of inevitability.”

“Don’t get him started,” Jax said in her ear.

Teeny was passed around for hugs from Clarissa and Lily and then she waved at baby Ronnie.

“So, what do you say we take a walk, if you want? Or we can play catch? Or-”

“I like walking,” Teeny answered with a smile.

Jax nodded and the two started walking, Gideon quickly following before Ray caught her.

“Hey!”

“I’m sure they’ll appreciate some bonding time alone,” Ray said quietly.

“But-” Gideon looked at her baby.

Teeny smiled and gave her a hug. “I’ll be fine, Mum.”

“You keep her within my sights at all time,” she told Jax.

“Promise.”

Finally, she allowed them to go.

Gideon huffed and took a seat on the bench watching Teeny and Jax wander to the playground and walk around the trees. Ray and Jonas were playing with the ball they’d brought. And the Steins and Helen were talking at the picnic table.

“Jax is a really good guy, you know?”

Gideon looked to her side and saw Lily had sat down, baby stroller by her side. “Never said he wasn’t.”

“I know you may have some qualms.”

“My only priority is my children. They come first.”

Lily nodded and handed her son a rattle. “I understand, if anything happened to Ronnie…You know he didn’t know about her.”

“Why do you think I even allowed this much?” Gideon sighed and shook her head. “Must be nice, to have such a large family, a support system.”

“Jax grows on you. My dad thought he was lazy, a slacker, was always hard on him. But Jax is smart, and he cares so much. One day, my dad had collapsed after class and Jax was the one that was there to call the ambulance, stayed with us at the hospital. We became close after that.”

“Good for you.”

“And he was there when I was having my baby, made sure my dad got there on time. His name is Ronald Jackson Stein, you know?”

“How wonderful, at least he could be there for the birth of one child even if it wasn’t his own.” Gideon stood up, she’d heard enough. “I appreciate what you’re doing, Ms. Stein, and I understand that you care deeply for him. But none of that is going to change my mind. I will allow Mr. Jackson to continue to see my daughter, but it will be on my terms and for as long as Teeny wants it. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to help my son write an essay.”

* * *

“So, can my grandma be Jonas’ grandma too?” Teeny asked quietly.

Jax laughed lightly. “Sure, if he wants that. Mom wouldn’t mind. She’d be happy to cook for him any time, and give anyone who needs it a hard talking to.”

Teeny nodded. She knew Jonas would never say it to her face, but she knew he was a little down that Jax had called and Rip still hadn’t. Even if he pretended otherwise, she knew he still wanted to get to know his own father.

“Does grandma like me?” she asked worriedly.

“Are you kidding? She loves you already! She’s been bugging me from the minute I told her about you to let her meet you. But I get that your mom has rules and I agree with them.”

“How can she already love me? She doesn’t even know me.”

“You’re family, how could she not?”

“My mother didn’t love me.”

“Your moth – oh Teeny, baby, you mean Lucy?”

Teeny looked down and picked up a rock, throwing it a few feet in front of her.

“Hey,” Jax smiled at her, “listen, that’s not on you. That’s on her. So she didn’t want to know you, that’s her loss.”

“You sound like Mum.”

“Well, your mother does seem smart.” And rich, Jax thought with annoyance.

Admittedly, she had given Teeny a good life, probably better than what Jax could have. His mother had been more than annoyed to find out her granddaughter had been adopted and wouldn’t be coming to live with them. But Jax had seen how Teeny had hid behind Gideon, clung to her side, seen her interact with Jonas. It would have been unfair to her and he’d meant what he’d said to Gideon. He still had to learn how to be a father, he wasn’t about to usurp her place.

“It was really nice of grandma to give me a present. Thank you.”

“It’s also very sweet of you to pretend to like it,” Jax said knowingly.

Teeny inhaled sharply. “I’m sorry!”

“Hey, hey, no, no.” Jax placed his hands on Teeny’s shoulders. “Teeny, look at me, you don’t have to pretend to like anything you don’t want to like.”

“Mum says it’s called good manners.”

“And she’s right, for strangers. But you’d tell her if she bought you a dress you didn’t like? Or a present you didn’t want?”

“Mum always gets me what I want.”

“I know, but if she didn’t, you’d tell her, right?”

“Yeah.”

“Then I want you to do the same for me. My mom – your grandma, she was just really excited, wanted to make a good first impression.”

“Because of good manners.”

“Yeah, because of good manners.”

“I just don’t really need a diary. But maybe Jonas will take the pens. He likes to draw.”

“I think that sounds like a great idea.”

Teeny wrapped her arms around him quickly. “Thank you for being so nice to me.”

Jax stood in shock for a moment before patting her back and returning the hug. “Yeah, yeah, of course. Y – you’re my daughter.”

“Teeny!” Gideon called from across the park. “We have to go now for your piano class.”

“Coming, Mum!” Teeny grinned up at him. “Want to race?”

“Haha, all right.” Jax had a feeling she’d win given his bad knee but he was more than willing to try for her.

“Ready, set, go!” she said in a hurry and then zipped off.

“Hey, that’s cheating!” Jax chased after her, winding through the trees and skipping over the benches until they reached Gideon.

Teeny flew straight into her mother’s arms and Jax barely skidded to a stop, winded after his sprint.

“Wow, you’re fast!”

“I won!” she said smugly.

“That’s my girl.”

“Actually, she’s mine,” Gideon said proudly.

“It’s probably true,” Ray said, packing everything up. “Gideon has a competitive streak, gave it to the both of them.”

“There’s nothing wrong with a little friendly competition.”

Jax gulped, hoping that didn’t mean him. “Thank you, for letting me see her.”

“Yes, well, Teeny wanted to, so.”

“I’d like to do it again some time.”

“We’ll see. There might need to be some coordination. And preferably less people.”

Jax turned and looked at his family, all staring at him and then quickly pretending to talk amongst each other.

“Yeah, they mean well. Really. Families, you know?”

Not really, Gideon thought bitterly. “We’ll be seeing you, Mr. Jackson.”

Gideon turned and took her kids and Teeny waved brightly at him.

Jax memorized that sweet little smile into his heart.


	6. Chapter 6

Gideon sighed and looked at the caller ID as her phone rang. Well, she supposed it was only a matter of time. She wasn’t sure whether to be grateful or angry that it had taken Rip longer than Jax to finally call.

“Hello?”

“Hi Gideon? This is Rip Hunter. We met the other day, I’m Jonas’ father.”

“I remember.” Gideon crossed her arms and leaned against the sink as she waited for her pot of water to boil. Maybe she should add more salt, it was taking forever.

“Right. Well, I was calling because, well I was hoping to schedule a meeting, with Jonas. And you, of course. And Teeny and Ray if they’d like but there’s really no need.”

“Teeny will likely want to tag along, and so will Ray.” Unfortunately.

“Of course, that’s perfectly fine.”

“And what is it that you want to do?”

“Oh, there’s someone I want him to meet.”

Oh bloody hell, not again! “I’m not doing another bloody parade of people!”

“Sorry, what?”

“Let me guess, you’ll say your mother but you’ll really just come in with all your brothers, and sisters, and second cousins!”

“I – my mother lives in London…and doesn’t know I’ve found Jonas yet. Or rather that he’s found me.”

Gideon blinked. “You didn’t tell your own mother? This is big news, why would you not? Are you ashamed of Jonas?” Gideon’s hackles raised. “He is a sweet and innocent boy and does not need you to-”

“I’m not ashamed of him! If anything, I’m ashamed of myself and the decision I made but I can’t very well go back in time and change it.”

Gideon chewed her lip. It wasn’t like she wanted him to. Jonas was her baby.

“I haven’t had the chance to tell Mother yet. I will, when it’s time. Anyway, I just wanted him to meet an old friend of mine. That’s all, I swear. No brother or sisters or second cousins that I know of. Ever since Miranda…it’s just me.”

“Fine.”

“Fine, as in you’ll let me see him?”

“I don’t know. I’d have to ask him.”

Rip was silent for a long moment. “Are you going to?”

Gideon’s arms were crossed so tightly she might have sprained something. Jonas was upstairs studying, she could go upstairs now and ask. But her body refused to move.

“Yes.”

“Now?”

“…I don’t know.”

“I know that I have to go through your permissions and everything but I do deserve a fair chance, don’t I?”

Gideon didn’t particularly think so. “I guess.”

“So, you’ll ask him.”

“Yes.”

“Now?”

“I…my water!” The pot began to boil over, scalding water hitting the stove and putting out the flame. “Bollocks! Look what you made me do now!”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to! I can-”

“I’ll ask him when I ask him and get back to you. Good day, Mr. Hunter.”

She hung up the phone and threw it to the counter, hoping their dinner could still be salvaged. This was all Rip’s fault this time.

* * *

“Sirens, why did he want to meet at Sirens? Who is he trying to impress?” Gideon growled lightly as she parked the car.

“Remember how we talked about working through your anger and jealousy?” Ray pointed out.

“I’m not jealous!” Gideon huffed. So what if Rip wanted to impress Jonas with a nice fancy dinner? Her son would never fall for it.

“I can go in alone if you like, Mum,” Jonas said from the back seat. He had his own car and still had to be chauffeured around for these meetings. Ever since finding out they went behind her back, their mother hadn’t let them out of her sight.

“Absolutely not. Come on, everyone out.” She slammed the car door shut with a bit more force than required and felt a hand slip through hers. Gideon smiled at Teeny and kissed her braids. “I’m fine, darling.”

“I know,” Teeny said easily. “I just want to hold your hand.”

“Suck up,” Jonas sang and Teeny stuck her tongue out at him.

“Both of you behave now,” Gideon said, rolling her eyes. “Ray, help me!”

“What happened to wanting to do this all alone and-”

“Ray!”

He grinned at her. “Listen to your mom, kids.”

“Yes, Uncle Ray,” they parroted back.

“Let’s just get this over with,” Gideon muttered. Jonas worried he should have snuck out to meet his birth father on his own.

“It looks pretty deserted,” Ray said quietly to her.

“I know.” Gideon glanced at the hours on the window as they reached the front door. Bloody place wasn’t even open for the dinner crowd yet. She should have known that this man would blow them off.

“Should we wait?” Jonas asked.

“Only if you want to,” said Gideon, hoping he wouldn’t want to. Jonas shrugged ambivalently and Gideon ruffled his hair. “We’ll wait for a bit.” She looked around the establishment, remembering all the times she and Ray had their work dinners here. “Teeny, look at the fountain,” Gideon said happily. There was a beautiful stone mermaid curled up around the spout. “Do you remember how much you loved mermaids when you were younger?”

“Yes, Mum,” Teeny dragged out the words. It was always so embarrassing when she wanted to reminisce.

“Do you want a picture next to it?”

“Mum!”

“Oh come on, just one!” Gideon stuck out her bottom lip and Teeny sighed, stepping in front of the fountain. Gideon took out her phone and started snapping pictures, getting into the shot herself when Ray said he would take some.

She was trying to entice Jonas to join them when the door suddenly opened and a woman stepped out.

“You should see it at night with the lights on,” she commented lightly.

“My apologies, are there rules against taking pictures? I just wanted to for the kids,” Gideon said hurriedly, putting her phone away.

“Not at all. Would you like a family picture? It’ll be good with the sun is setting and without the rush.”

“Oh, that would be wonderful! Come on everyone!” Gideon ushered them all in, holding on to Teeny so she didn’t escape. Jonas rolled his eyes and dragged his feet over. “Ray, you too! Get in here, now!”

“Yes, ma’am!” He smiled and came over, slinging an arm around Gideon and Teeny, with Jonas on Gideon’s other side.

The lady snapped the pictures and held out the mobile to Gideon again.

“Oh thank you so much…”

“Kendra,” she answered.

“Kendra, I’m Gideon. We’re actually just waiting-”

“You’re Gideon?” Kendra’s eyes widened. “Oh my gosh I’m so sorry. This is my fault. Rip told me you were coming and I got so busy with inventory I completely forgot. Please, come in, come in. Oh goodness, now you’re late and he must be so worried!”

Gideon glanced at her children and Ray, who shrugged unhelpfully, and the four of them followed Kendra into the restaurant.

“Wow, Mum, it’s so pretty!” Teeny said, eyes wide at the chandelier.

“Mmm, yes.” Gideon’s thoughts were elsewhere, wondering how Rip got VIP access to one of the premier restaurants in the city.

“He’s in the private bar, booked out the place for all of you,” Kendra said, opening the door for them. “Enjoy!”

“Are we all allowed to go?” Teeny asked in a hushed voice.

“Of course,” Kendra said. “Kid friendly for the night. Rip’s promise. And he makes the best chocolate milkshakes.”

“So he’s the bartender here,” Gideon said, finally understanding.

“Only on certain nights,” Rip said, appearing from the private bar. “Other times I’m the chef. But mostly I’m the hands-off owner and let Kendra do all the hard work.” He looked at Jonas, a softness in his eyes. “Jonas, it’s so good to see you.”

Teeny cleared her throat loudly.

Rip smiled, amused and looked back at the little girl. “And you too, Miss Teeny.”

“It’s nice to see you too, Mr. Hunter.”

“You own Sirens?” Ray asked.

“Yes.” He turned to face Jonas. “I started it a long time ago, with your mother. It was during one of our visits back to Central. We moved around a lot but always came back; it’s why we kept the house.”

“That’s incredible,” Ray said. “Gideon and I have come here so many times for work and we never knew. She loves it here.”

“No, I don’t!” Gideon argued.

“You always bring us leftovers, Mum,” Teeny reminded her.

“Yeah, and remember how you order one of everything off the dessert menu and say it’s the only thing worth living for other than your children and-”

“Okay, Ray! We’ve got it!” Gideon chewed her lip, feeling hot all over. “I suppose the food is decent.”

“She loved it the last time she was here, always looks forward to it.”

“Ray!”

“Just saying.”

“Why don’t you all come in,” Rip said, stepping aside.

Gideon kept an arm around each of her children, glaring at Rip as she walked in. “Show off,” she muttered under her breath.

She stopped suddenly, seeing a rather intimidating man sitting at the bar. Immediately, she stepped forward, pushing her children behind her protectively.

“Mum, I’m taller than you now,” Jonas complained as he stumbled back.

“Still my baby!”

“Sorry, sorry, my fault,” Rip said, hurrying over. “Introductions need to be made. If I may?” Rip held out a hand for Jonas’.

Jonas looked at his mother and she nodded tightly.

Rip smiled and led him over, Gideon followed and Ray kept Teeny with him even as she whined.

“You can hear from here,” he whispered. “Give your brother a little privacy.”

Teeny whined some more and crossed her arms just like her mother, clearly not happy.

The man stood up next to Rip.

“Jonas, this is my best friend, Jonah Hex,” Rip said. “He was the best man at our wedding, knew your mother, and you. We – we named you after him, actually. Had we kept you…I wanted you to meet him.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Jonas said kindly.

“It’s so good to see you too. I only saw you once as a baby before they had to give you up. You’re so big now,” Jonah gushed. “Look at you. If only your mom could be here.”

“I’m his mum,” Gideon bit out automatically.

Jonah turned to look at her and smiled, taking her hand and kissing it. “Of course you are. My apologies, ma’am. Rip told me about you but failed to mention just how gorgeous you are. Enchanted to meet you.”

Gideon rolled her eyes and pulled her hand away. “Seriously?”

Rip glared at his friend and smacked his arm. “I barely said anything about her. Now quit hitting on the mother of my child. Words I never thought I’d have to say.”

Jonah shrugged easily. “When a woman is that beautiful, you should tell her, Rip.”

Gideon’s eyes sparkled, smirking at the Rip. “Yes, you should, Mr. Hunter.”

Rip ignored her and looked at Jonas. “I wanted you to meet your namesake.”

“Guess it’s a good thing you only changed my middle name,” Jonas joked to his mother.

“You changed his middle name?” demanded Rip.

Gideon stroked Jonas’ hair and kissed his cheek even as he complained and wiped it off. “I did when I adopted them. I gave Teeny a middle name and changed Jonas’. They’re my children and I deserved the opportunity to name them. Jonas Newton Rider and Martina Atalanta Rider. Mine.”

She watched satisfied as Rip locked his jaw, a fierce look in his eyes. “You already gave him your last name; you could have kept Henry.”

“I adopted him and he’s mine. And Henry is a stupid name! As if I’m going to let him be named after a man that had six wives and kept killing them off.”

“I asked her to change it,” Jonas said. “She was going to give Teeny a middle name and it wasn’t fair. I wanted to be her son too.”

Gideon kissed his cheek again. “You are.”

Jonah put a hand on Rip’s shoulder. “Shall I remind you what your birth name was?”

Rip shook him off. “No.” He sighed and nodded. “I’m sorry. I’m still adjusting. I know that I don’t have any right-”

“You don’t.”

“Mum!” Jonas scolded.

“But I do want to try and be in your life, Jonas,” Rip finished.

Somewhere behind them there was the sound of breaking glass followed by a quiet ‘oops’. Gideon whirled around and saw Teeny standing next to the bar, broken glass on the bar and ground while Ray looked very guilty.

“Teeny! You’re supposed to look, not touch!” Gideon scolded, hurrying to her daughter. “Are you okay? Are you hurt? You were supposed to be watching her!” she yelled at Ray.

“I looked away for a second. She was fine, Gideon.”

“I’m sorry, Mum! I just wanted to see it closer. It was really pretty.”

“Are you okay?” Gideon asked again, taking Teeny’s hands and checking her over for any cuts or injuries.

“I’m fine, Mum.”

Gideon sighed and looked back at the others. Jonas was looking from Teeny to Rip fearfully, clearly expecting the man to yell at them. Gideon stepped forward to protect her other child. If the man couldn’t understand a simple accident, he had no place in their lives.

“I’ll pay for the damage,” she said.

“What?” Rip said confused. He looked at Jonas who was frozen on the spot. Gently, he placed a hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” he asked softly.

“It was an accident. She didn’t mean to!” Jonas said immediately.

“I know that, Jonas. It’s fine, it’s fine, okay?” Rip said quietly. “It’s just some broken glass. The important thing is your sister is all right, okay?”

When Jonas finally nodded, Rip looked back at Gideon.

“There’s no need to pay. It’s just a glass. If you can move her out of the way safely, I’ll go ahead and clean up. You can all have a seat at the booth. I’ll bring out some drinks. Miss Teeny, what flavour milkshake would you like?”

“Chocolate.”

“Excellent choice.” He looked at Jonas who still seemed scared. “Hey, it’s fine. I’m not angry, okay? Go sit with Jonah, he can tell you all about my stupidity in youth if you like. I’ll be there soon. You want a chocolate milkshake too?”

“Strawberry,” Jonas said quietly.

“All right.”

Rip squeezed his shoulder and handed him off to Jonah who led him to the booth. Gideon dusted off Teeny’s dress and checked her over once more before allowing Ray to take her to the booth. She immediately went to her brother and hugged him from the side. Rip came over to the bar with a broom and dust pan and began cleaning up.

“I can pay,” Gideon said again.

“It was a glass, Gideon. Not a big deal.” He stood up. “Jonas flinched. Why?”

Gideon narrowed her eyes realizing the accusation in his voice. “He had bad foster homes before coming to live with me and plenty of teachers who yelled at him for ‘being lazy’. Idiots. He’s better than he used to be, but he’s always wary of new adults.”

Rip nodded. “I had to be sure. I remember the orphanage, running away from adults. But my mother was always good to me.”

“And I’m good to him. Don’t you dare imply otherwise!”

“I didn’t mean to. But he’s my son-”

“He’s my son! You signed away your rights and for you to insinuate that I would ever-” Gideon shook her head and breathed deeply. The kids didn’t like when she raised her voice and she had to think of them. “I would never lay a finger on them.”

“I believe you. I’m sorry I doubted you, for even a second.”

“You should be.” Gideon glared at him before heading back over to her children.

A few minutes later, Rip brought out drinks and snacks for everyone. Gideon and Teeny were each on Jonas’ sides and Gideon’s look made it clear she wouldn’t be moving. Rip accepted his mistake and realized he wouldn’t get more bonding time for the day but took the win of introducing Jonas to Jonah. He did hope she’d go easier on him with the double chocolate milkshake he’d given her. He remembered how she’d wanted chocolates for dessert at dinner.

An hour later, they’d all finished and Gideon began packing her purse. “We should get going,” she said.

“Already?” Jonah said in surprise. “Surely you can stay a little longer.”

“No, I’m afraid not. Teeny has clarinet lessons in the morning and we should go.”

“You didn’t even stay for dinner.”

“I’ll order a pizza for them.”

“But-”

“Of course,” Rip said, interrupting his friend. “I understand. Thank you for coming by today. I hope to see you again soon, Jonas.”

“We’ll see. Jonas has a lot of exams coming up,” Gideon said as Ray placed a hand on her shoulder.

“Right.” Rip stood up and led them to the doors to the main restaurant.

“We’ll see ourselves out. Teeny, Ray, go ahead to the car.” She handed Ray her keys and waited for Jonas to say his goodbyes.

“It was nice seeing you both,” Jonas said politely.

“And you, Jonas. Until next time?” Rip looked at Gideon hopefully.

“We’ll see.” She wrapped an arm around Jonas and led him out.

Rip sighed and shook his head while Jonah whistled.

“Damn, real firecracker that one, huh?”

Rip snorted. “That’s one word for it.”

“Are her and Ray a thing?”

“No, they’re just friends. And no, you’re not allowed to date her! I have to think about Jonas.”

“Wasn’t me I was thinking about,” Jonah said, helping clean up.

Rip paused, jaw dropping. “Excuse me? What?”

“Are we going to completely ignore how she’s exactly your type?”

“My type? I don’t have a type.”

“Yes you do.”

“She is not my type. And in case you haven’t noticed, even if we ignored the whole ‘mother of my child’ thing, she clearly hates my guts.”

“So did Miranda if I remember clearly.”

“Shut up and clean up and don’t talk rubbish.”

“Sir, yes sir.”

Rip rolled his eyes and threw a rag at him. Ridiculous.

* * *

_“Mummy, Mummy! Look, a mermaid!” Teeny shouted with glee._

_“Yes, it is!” Gideon picked up Teeny and kissed her cheeks. She was pleased that even though Teeny was six now she still let Gideon pick her up._

_“She’s pretty,” Teeny said longingly._

_“Not as pretty as you,” Gideon said, kissing her cheeks again._

_“Definitely not,” a woman said. Gideon turned and saw a woman who looked very similar to the mermaid statue. Clearly, the statue was inspired by her._

_Gideon blushed and smiled, grateful the woman was so kind to her daughter_

_“When I grow up, I’m going to be a mermaid,” Teeny said proudly._

_“That’s ambitious indeed,” Gideon said. “You’ll have to work on your swimming.”_

_“Did you want a picture in front of it?” the woman asked. “I’ve got a camera inside and I could mail you a copy if you let us keep one in the restaurant too.”_

_“Oh, please Mummy?”_

_“Oh baby, I’m so sorry. We have to pick up your brother. Another time, okay?”_

_“But Mummy!”_

_Gideon squeezed Teeny tight and wiped her teary eyes, sad she couldn’t give her daughter everything she wanted. “I’m sorry baby. We’ll come back, okay? I promise.”_

_“If you’re sure. Make sure you do. Best desserts in town, I promise.” The woman winked._

_Gideon nodded and thanked her before turning to Teeny. “You want me to carry you or walk?”_

_“I can walk.”_

_“All right then. Let’s hustle!”_

_Teeny laughed and waved to the nice lady as she took her mummy’s hand. “Bye!”_

_“Bye!” Miranda waved back, watching the mother and daughter walk away. She thought back to the baby she and Rip had given up years ago. She hoped his mother was just as loving as this one was to her daughter._


	7. Chapter 7

Rip closed his car door and looked up at the friendly face. He nodded and smiled at Jax, noticing what gifts he bared. “What did you go with?” he asked.

“Brownies. My mom’s secret recipe, guaranteed to win over any chocolate lover and I’m thinking I’m gonna need it.” Jax raised the tray. “You?”

“Chocolate mousse cake. It’s a best seller at the restaurant and Ray had mentioned she liked it.”

Slowly, they both walked up the path again, remembering the last time they had tried this.

“I was surprised we got a dinner invite,” Jax continued. “I didn’t think our meeting went to well. Or at least, mine didn’t.”

“Nor did mine.”

“Did she sound angry on the phone when she called you?”

“You got a phone call?” Rip asked with surprise. “She just sent me a text message. Dinner, Sunday at six, don’t be late. She must like you better.”

“Doubtful.”

Just like last time, when they got to the door it opened on its own. This time, Teeny gave them both a toothy smile.

“Hi!” she said brightly. “Won’t you come into our lovely home?”

Jax chuckled. “Well, aren’t you a good host?”

“It’s polite to take one’s coat.” Teeny held out her hands for them. Rip shrugged and took off his jacket, handing it to Teeny. She immediately threw it at Jonas who was standing two feet away. “Put it away!”

“Yeah, real nice manners there, Teeny,” Jonas replied sarcastically.

“All the fancy places have butlers, Jonas. You can be my butler.”

Jonas rolled his eyes as he hung up the coat in the closet. “She’s been watching a lot more TV when Mum works late,” he explained.

“Where is Gideon?” asked Rip, half scared of being yelled at again.

“She’s ordering the pizza.”

“Pizza?” asked Jax. It wasn’t exactly how his mother did family dinners, it certainly didn’t feel warm and fuzzy.

“It’s hard to say if it’s because she likes you and no longer feels the need to impress you or accidentally give you food poisoning, or because she hates you and doesn’t care what you eat,” Jonas admitted.

“I would guess the latter,” muttered Rip.

Teeny grabbed hold of Jax’s hand. “Do you want to hear me play piano? I’ve been practicing for my recital.”

“I would love to!”

“Not so fast!” Gideon came down the stairs, dressed in tight jeans and a blouse. “Teeny, I told you to call me when the doorbell rang. Not open the door!”

“I thought it was Uncle Ray,” Teeny responded easily.

Gideon snorted. “Nice try. I can see the curtains have been moved. You peeked.”

“You would have yelled at them.”

“I would not!” Gideon insisted. She put a smile on. “Welcome to our home, again. See?” She turned to her children. “I’m nice.”

“We appreciate the effort, Mum.” Jonas patted her hand and Gideon kissed his cheek.

“Oh, we got you chocolate. Well, I got brownies and Rip brought cake.” Jax held up the baked goods.

“What, neither of you thought to bring flowers?” she asked dryly.

Rip and Jax exchanged a look, both worried about yet another mishap.

Gideon sighed. “I’m joking.” Sort of. “Jonas put them in the kitchen, would you? I’ll give Ray a call and ask where he is.” Jonas took both desserts and headed to the kitchen.

“Ray is coming again?” Rip asked.

“He’s family,” she stated clearly. Unlike these two.

“Right, of course.”

“Thank you, for, you know, having us over again,” Jax said. “Didn’t think it would happen again.”

Gideon cleared her throat uncomfortably. “Yes, well, Jonas and Teeny mentioned it had been a couple of weeks since seeing you both. They wanted it, so…anyway, I don’t have to cook so it’s no burden on me.”

“We wouldn’t want to burden you,” Rip said hurriedly. “Honestly, if you ever wanted me to bring takeout from the restaurant-”

“Or do it potluck style,” Jax added while Rip nodded along hastily.

“Thank you, both. But let’s not make this a thing, shall we?” Gideon said, shutting them down just as quickly.

Teeny tugged on Jax’s arm again. “Come on! I wanna show them my recital song, Mum!”

“All right, darling. Go ahead.”

Teeny pulled Jax into the den while Rip followed at a slower pace, meeting Jonas in the kitchen.

“Your mother doesn’t seem too pleased to see us,” he said softly.

Jonas shrugged. “It’s just a little weird for her, I guess. I wish she understood it doesn’t mean we love her any less.”

“I’m sure she’ll understand soon.”

They entered the den where Teeny was setting up her music books. “Where’s Mum?”

“Must be calling Ray,” said Jonas. Teeny pouted, not wanting to play without her mother to watch. Jonas rolled his eyes. “Go on, you know you want to show off.”

Teeny stuck her tongue out at him. Jax and Rip shared a look, both unsure of whether to step in or to let it be. Did they have proper parenting rights or would it just be another thing for Gideon to yell at them for?

“Do you play?” Rip asked Jonas, hoping to diffuse any rising tension.

Jonas shook his head. “Nope. Not my thing.”

“Oh.” Rip was quiet for a moment. “Your mother and I both loved to play. Though, she was the more musical one, the artistic one. She would play the baby grand all the time.”

“You have a baby grand?” Teeny’s eyes went wide. It wasn’t that their piano wasn’t great, it was a standing upright piano, but it was no baby grand piano.

Rip nodded. “I do. You should come over some time, if your mother allows you of course. Both of you. If – if you like.” Rip looked at Jonas hopefully.

Jonas nodded slowly. “We’ll see what Mum says. Teeny’s got music lessons and I’ve got football practice and play rehearsals.”

“You play football?” Jax asked excitedly. “I haven’t played since high school.”

“Oh, sorry, I meant soccer,” Jonas corrected himself. “Mum still uses British terms all the time. They rub off on you after a while.”

“The American terms are stupid,” Gideon declared, announcing her entrance. “What that sport has to do with football I’ll never understand.”

“Oh, well I’d still be happy to pass around the ball, give you some pointers, you know?” Jax offered.

“Sure,” said Jonas.

“He’s not even your kid,” Gideon said, suddenly confused as to what was going on.

“What does that matter, Mum?” asked Teeny, excited that her father and brother would get along. “Mr. Rip is letting me play on his piano too.”

“What?”

“I said if it was okay with you,” Rip said hurriedly. “I have a baby grand, and if Teeny was interested-”

“She’s not!”

“Yes, I am!”

“Teeny, no. We – we are not going to impose upon either of you,” Gideon said forcefully. “They are my children, I can look after them and give them whatever they need.”

“No one said you can’t,” Rip said lowly.

“It was implied.” Gideon glared with full force. The silence was deafening until finally, the doorbell rang. She huffed. “That will be Ray. I’ll be back.”

Jax waited until Gideon left the room before he finally found his voice. “Maybe another time, yeah?”

“Mum’s always been stubborn,” Jonas said. “And treats us like babies.”

Both men bit their tongues, not wanting to speak a word against the woman that was allowing them to see their children.

“You’re just mad because she said you can’t date yet,” Teeny taunted.

“Shut up!”

“It’s not like you even managed to ask her out.”

“Ask who out?” asked Rip.

“Saraaaaa,” Teeny said, grinning victoriously.

“I said shut up!” Jonas threw a pillow at his sister which Jax easily caught before it could hit her.

“Hey now, no rough housing,” Jax said. “And no taunting your brother. Asking a girl out is hard!”

Teeny rolled her eyes. “He’s never gonna do it. He’s too chicken.”

“She’s just a friend,” Jonas insisted.

“Who you liiiike. And wanna kiiiiss-”

Jonas launched another pillow at her.

“Hey! I’m telling Mum!”

“Go on, you tattletale!”

“Okay, okay, how about we not tell your mother who will than yell at us?” Jax begged.

“Agreed,” Rip said, moving all the pillows aside. “No more throwing things. And Jonas, it is perfectly fine if you’re intimidated to ask out your crush.”

“I didn’t say I was!”

“Miranda asked me out,” Rip admitted. “I was too terrified to do anything other than stare at her from afar.”

“Being on the football team was better for me,” Jax said. “Made it easier to approach a girl when she actually knew your name.”

“Jonas has been in love with her most of his life and joined school theater for her,” Teeny said flatly. “He’s a chicken.”

Jonas glared at her. “I like theater. And because of that, I won’t let you run lines with me on Sunday.”

“What? No, come on, that’s not fair!”

“Ha! Maybe if you’re nice to me I’ll change my mind.”

Jax’s head was already spinning, unsure of how Gideon dealt with two kids alone. Looking at Rip, he didn’t seem to be faring much better. Thankfully, they were saved by Gideon and Ray entering the room.

“Most utterly stupid thing ever! There was nothing out there, Ray!” Gideon complained as she trailed behind Ray, carrying a bouquet of flowers.

“I’m telling you, Gideon. I saw it, a deer.” Ray winked at the children, clearly having held off their mother so they could have a little alone time with the fathers.

“We live in the suburbs!”

“And we’ve displaced them from their homes. It’s only fair that they pop up every now and then. Here guys, I got you some chocolate.” He handed the kids some candies. “I wasn’t sure if you two had any allergies so I held off, sorry,” he told the boys.

“Not a problem,” Rip assured him.

“Yeah, no worries, man,” said Jax.

Gideon huffed. “Well, I see the state of the room is only minimally disturbed,” she said taking in the thrown pillows.

“So, what’re we talking about?” asked Ray.

Jonas and Teeny shared a look, knowing Gideon would only be more stressed if they mentioned Jonas’ possible dating life. “Teeny was deciding on a song to play for them.”

“Oh darling, do Rain, I love that one,” Gideon said excitedly.

“Okay, Mum.”

Gideon took a seat next to Jonas, showing off what was probably the first real smile she’d had all night.

* * *

_Gideon woke with a start, knowing in her heart that something was wrong. Immediately, she threw off her covers and hurried out to the landing, hearing soft cries from Jonas’ bedroom. She opened the door gently and saw his nightlight on, illuminating two figures in the dark._

_“Darlings? What’s wrong?” she asked softly._

_“Nothing!” Jonas said quickly. “Teeny just had a nightmare. I was gonna send her back to bed, I swear!”_

_Gideon’s heart sunk, upset that Jonas still had a hard time trusting her in the months they’d come to stay with her. She thought he had been doing better but clearly there were still some reservations._

_“Was it a bad nightmare, Teeny?” she asked._

_Teeny nodded, hugging the stuffed giraffe Gideon had gotten her. “Bad dweam!”_

_“You know you both can always come to me, don’t you?” asked Gideon._

_Jonas looked down. “Didn’t wanna bother you. You’d be mad.”_

_“No darling, no.” Gideon sat on the bed, cupping his face. “Not at all, my love. I could never be mad. I took you both in because I want you to need me. I want to help you, to love you.”_

_“You just met us.”_

_“And yet I love you,” Gideon said simply. “Neither of you will ever be a bother to me.”_

_Jonas stayed silent, clearly not believing her still._

_“Do you both want to sleep with me tonight? I have a big bed and we can all curl up, get some blankets? Or perhaps I can make you both some hot chocolate to help you sleep?”_

_Teeny went easily into her arms, always one for affection. “Chocowate!”_

_Gideon laughed softly. “Yes, chocolate. Jonas, do you want to help Teeny get her things into my room? You too, if you like.”_

_“Are you sure?”_

_“Absolutely, I want you to feel safe, Jonas. You are safe here. This is your home for as long as you want it to be.” Gideon hoped forever. She knew it would be no small feat, that they weren’t just going to wake up one day and declare their love for her, call her Mummy, but she had hoped to make some more progress by now. She wanted to adopt them both._

_“Okay.”_

_“Good.” She kissed Teeny’s cheeks and tentatively kissed Jonas’ hair before standing up. “I’ll make us some hot chocolate and then meet you in my bedroom. Bring whatever stuffed animals and blankets and pillows you want. We can make a blanket fort if you want!”_

_Gideon waited until the two of them were shuffling around sleepily before heading downstairs. She pulled out the saucepan and heated some milk, melting the chocolate into it before adding a little extra cinnamon. Then she poured them into mugs on a tray and carried them back upstairs. Jonas and Teeny were on her bed, curled up together amidst a sea of pillows and blankets. Apparently, Teeny had deemed every stuffed animal as important. It was fine, Gideon would find a way to sleep around it._

_“Are we allowed to drink it here?” Jonas asked._

_“Of course you can, why wouldn’t you?”_

_He shrugged. “Rules.”_

_“Ah, I see. One of your houses said no food?”_

_“We had to ask for a snack, for water.”_

_Gideon’s blood boiled at the thought and she plastered a smile on her face. “Not here. You can eat whatever you want. If I tell you no, it’s so that you have room for your supper or because I think it’s too much junk food and will give you some fruit instead. And if you want anything from the store you can always ask.”_

_“Okay.”_

_“I won’t stop you from getting food or water, not ever.” Gideon placed the tray on the nightstand and maneuvered herself onto the bed in the middle. Teeny curled into her lap while Jonas stayed at her side. The fact that he didn’t move away and leaned slightly against her felt like an enormous win for Gideon. “Come on, hot chocolate time. And we can watch a movie too. What would you like?”_

_“Pwincess?” asked Teeny._

_Gideon looked to Jonas. “We don’t have to if you don’t want to.”_

_“It’s okay. I like it too.”_

_“All right. Princess movie.” Gideon picked the movie and got it playing with the volume low before handing them their hot chocolates. “Be careful Teeny, it’s very hot.” Gideon blew on it and then did the same for Jonas._

_“How come you love us?” Jonas asked bluntly._

_“Why wouldn’t I?”_

_Jonas shrugged. “No one else did.”_

_Gideon’s heart ached for them, realizing they’d never had anyone to soothe them back to bed, to sing them to sleep, to read them stories, take care of their cuts. No one had ever cared enough. She remembered the feeling. But she loved them, she wanted them._

_“Well I do. And I’m here now. And I’m not going anywhere.”_


	8. Chapter 8

_There was a loud crash that made Gideon jolt up. She immediately ran to the kitchen where she saw Jonas and Teeny surrounded by broken glass. Her heart jumped to her throat as she imagined them being hurt, the cuts, how far broken glass could fly._

_“What did you do?” she screamed, unable to stop herself._

_Jonas flinched, looking scared as his eyes widened, shaking his head. “I – it was an a-accident. W-we’re sorry, Gideon – we’re sorry! I’ll clean!”_

_“No, no!” Gideon stopped him, waving her hands, before he could hurt himself some more. “Stay where you are! Hold onto Teeny. I’ll do it.”_

_Jonas held Teeny’s hand tightly as she stared at the broken glass around them. He stopped her from picking up one of the shards while Gideon got a broom._

_“Teeny, no, don’t touch it!” Gideon hurried back, quickly sweeping up everything she could until all the visible fragments were gone. With a sigh, she threw the pieces into the trash and then looked back at the kids._

_“We’re sorry,” Jonas whispered, making himself small._

_Gideon frowned, not understanding what was going on. “I – Jonas, are you hurt?” she asked softly._

_He shook his head, flinching back when she took a step forward. Gideon’s throat closed up and she crouched down, careful not to kneel on the floor just in case of broken glass and keeping her distance so she didn’t scare them off._

_“Darling, I will never hurt you,” she whispered._

_“You shouted. Shouting means hitting.”_

_“No. Never.” Gideon kept her voice calm, careful not to raise it. “I am so sorry I scared you. The truth is, I was scared.”_

_“You were?”_

_“I was.”_

_“But you’re a grown up.”_

_Gideon laughed softly. “Even so, I was scared.”_

_“Why?”_

_“I was so scared that you might have hurt yourselves. I don’t care about the glass, I only care that you’re safe. You and Teeny both.”_

_“But you shouted. That’s angry.”_

_“I-” Gideon realized she couldn’t explain her actions, her behavior. “You’re right. Shouting is something angry people do. But sometimes, grownups do it when they’re scared too, when they don’t know what’s happening. But that doesn’t make it okay, Jonas, and I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”_

_“So you won’t shout again?”_

_“I…I can’t promise that,” Gideon admitted. “But I want you to know, if I do shout, it’s not your fault, it will never be your fault. It’s because sometimes, I’m just feeling so much, I have to let it out.”_

_“You’re not angry?”_

_“Not at all, darling.” Gideon kissed the top of his head. “I am so sorry I shouted. Tell you what, you and Teeny can have some cake while I finish cleaning up.”_

_“Really?”_

_“Really. What do you say, Teeny?”_

_“Okay!”_

_Gideon smiled and pulled out the cake from the fridge, cutting them each a slice._

_“Um, Gideon, could I have some juice too?” Jonas asked in a small voice._

_“Of course you can, darling. Is that what you were trying to do before?”_

_Jonas nodded. “It was really high.”_

_Gideon considered the cabinets and nodded. “You’re right. I’ll buy you and Teeny some plastic cups and keep them some place reachable for you, okay?”_

_“Okay.”_

_Gideon poured them each a glass of juice and handed them their plates and cups. “Just be careful, okay? I don’t want you getting hurt.”_

_“Okay.”_

_Gideon watched them leave the kitchen and swallowed the lump in her throat. When had she turned into every single adult in her life, screaming at children? At her children. Jonas would hate her now; he wouldn’t want her as a mother anymore. And it was only fair. She had terrified him, he thought she would hurt him. Gideon clenched her jaw, strengthening her resolve. She couldn’t yell at her children anymore. She couldn’t lose them._

* * *

“Mum, will you check over my homework?” Jonas called.

“Of course, darling.” She came up to the dining table and put on her reading glasses, scanning over his essay. “Just a few spelling mistakes.”

Jonas sighed loudly and Gideon kissed his head.

“It’s only a few, it happens to everyone.”

“Makes my head hurt.”

“Okay, I’ll look over this and help you with the editing after dinner. Why don’t you go run lines with Teeny in the meantime? That is, if she’s finished her homework. Teeny?”

“I did!” she piped up.

“Even the math?”

Teeny looked away. “Well, I did most of it?”

Gideon shook her head fondly. “Fine. Just this once, you can do it after dinner. But I expect you in bed by ten.”

“Jonas doesn’t have a bedtime!”

“Oh yes he does.”

“Mum, I’m sixteen,” Jonas whined.

Gideon snorted. “Wait until you’re in your thirties, you’ll be begging to be in bed by nine.”

Jonas gave his mother a strange look and grabbed his script, heading over to Teeny in the living room. Gideon worked on her laptop while marking up Jonas’ essay, making a mental reminder to look over Teeny’s math work later.

The work never finished, not that she minded. Even if she had to be early to the soccer games to hand out water and snacks, or take days off work to volunteer on field trips, or even contribute to those silly little bake sales, Gideon wouldn’t trade it for the world. Her children meant everything to her.

She smiled, distracted by the two of them running lines, listening to the story telling. It had always been easier for Jonas to sound out words and understand them if he read aloud. When he’d been old enough Gideon got him started on reading bedtime stories to Teeny, who had loved every second of them. And of course, her sweet Teeny had always been more artistically inclined, it made sense she also had an affinity for the theater like her brother.

Gideon clapped as the two of them finished the scene. “Brava! Marvelous! Splendid!”

Jonas laughed and Teeny gave a curtsey. Jonas bowed as well when Gideon blew them kisses. They were interrupted by the doorbell.

“Who’s that?” asked Jonas.

“Not sure.” Gideon sighed and took off her glasses and walked to the door. If it was one of the fathers showing up here at this time of night… “Ray!” Gideon said with surprise, opening the door. “Were we expecting you?”

“No, sorry, can I still come in?” he asked unsurely.

Gideon rolled her eyes. “Of course you can. You know you have a key you can use?”

“I know but it was late and I forgot to call, it didn’t seem polite.”

“Hi Ray!” Teeny greeted, running over to give him a hug.

“Hi sweetheart.” He gave her a quick kiss and a hug.

“Something important? Did you want to stay for dinner?” Gideon asked. “Jonas, set the table for four!”

“That’s not necessa-”

“What, you don’t like my cooking?” Gideon raised an eyebrow.

Ray gulped. “I’ll just stay for dinner. If it’s not trouble.”

“Never. Now, what’s on your mind?”

“Remember the tech conference in Star City I was going to go to?”

“This weekend, yes.”

“I have a meeting with the shareholders and I can’t reschedule it. I need you to go.”

Gideon shook her head. “No, no. I can’t leave the kids, Ray!”

“I wouldn’t ask if I wasn’t desperate,” he insisted. “Look, we’re up on Saturday, it’s only one panel. It would be a day trip.”

“I’m not driving eight hours in a day for some stupid panel that takes an hour!”

“Gideon, you’re the only one that knows the material as well as I do. You coded most of it.”

“And you agreed to present it!” Gideon shook her head, becoming more nervous and nauseous at the thought of standing on stage. “No, no, I’m not doing it. I can’t.”

Ray put his hands on her shoulders. “Yes, you can. I’ll give you all the notecards, but you know it. Just a quick speech, some questions, and you can come home to your children.”

Gideon sighed loudly. “I don’t know, that’s a very long day and I’d have to ask them if they’re fine with-”

“We’re fine!” Jonas said loudly.

Gideon whipped around and glared at her children, both standing behind her innocently. “What have I said about eavesdropping?”

“Not to do it. But you also said if someone is talking right in front of you really loudly it’s clearly not meant to be a private conversation,” Teeny recited proudly.

“When did I say that?”

“It might have been one of the things I eavesdropped about…”

Gideon groaned. “It would be all day and you’re-”

“Sixteen and old enough to drive and order in food and be fine on our own,” Jonas said.

“And have parties and drugs and sex and alcohol!”

“Mum!”

“It’s true!”

“Gideon, have a little faith in how you raised your children,” said Ray. “They’re going to be fine. Please?”

Gideon grimaced. “You will have to get all your homework done, and your chores-”

“Yes, yes!”

“And no video games all day, and you need to take Teeny to her music lesson-”

“I will!”

“And you need to call me immediately if anything – and I mean anything goes wrong. Even – even if it’s just a paper cut, I want to know about it!”

“We will, we promise. We’ll be good.”

Stubbornly, Gideon crossed her arms and turned back to Ray, still not liking the idea. “Fine. I’ll go.”

* * *

Gideon grinned into her phone when Jonas finally picked up. “My babies!”

Jonas rolled his eyes. “Mum, it’s been six hours.”

“No, it’s been ten hours. I left at six in the morning.” It had been the only way to ensure there wouldn’t be any traffic. Besides, the other seminars weren’t as dull as Gideon had expected them to be.

“We weren’t even awake then!”

“Never mind, where’s your sister? Teeny?”

“Teeny!” Jonas yelled. “Mum wants to see you! Now!”

Finally, Teeny came into view. “Hi Mum.”

“Hi darling, have you finished your homework?”

“Mum, it’s Saturday! Can’t I-”

“You know the rules. Homework first, half hour of clarinet, half hour of piano, and then you can do whatever you like.”

Teeny sighed loudly. “Fine.”

“That’s my girl.” Gideon was about to say something else when someone caught her eye. “What the bloody hell are you doing here?”

Rip gave her an apologetic look. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”

“Is that my dad?” Jonas asked on the screen, hearing his voice. “Is he there?”

Gideon froze, looking from the phone to Rip’s hopeful look. Since when had Jonas referred to him as his dad? “I – he – yes.” She was incapable of lying to her children.

“May I?” Rip gestured to the phone.

Begrudgingly, Gideon nodded and gestured him over. Rip smiled and walked around so he was in the camera’s view.

“Hi Jonas, and Teeny.”

“Hi Rip,” Jonas greeted happily. Gideon took the small win that they were still on a first name basis. “What are you doing in Star City?”

“I’ve got my restaurant catering an event out here, thought I’d come help out.”

“They asked a restaurant from Central City to cater something in Star City?” Gideon asked. Sure, the food was good, but that good?

Rip gave her a small smile. “I own more than one. And the one they asked for happens to be in Star City.”

Gideon looked back at her phone, careful to keep her smile from slipping. “How nice for you.”

“Well, it was really nice to see you both, even if it is on a small screen,” Rip gave a little wave.

Gideon was about to sigh in relief when Teeny said, “Aww, you gotta go now?”

“I’m afraid so. I took the train and the last one for Central City leaves in a half hour so I’ve got to get going. I’d hate to be stranded here.”

“Oh, what a shame. Bye now!” Gideon said sweetly.

“Mum.” Jonas gave her a look that he could have only learned from her.

“What?” she asked, playing innocent. The stare deepened. Gideon clenched her jaw, internalizing a groan. “Would you like a ride back to Central City with me?” she said through her teeth.

“You don’t have to,” said Rip.

“Well, I tried-”

“Mum!” Jonas scolded again. “It’ll be faster than the train,” he said to Rip.

“I really don’t want to inconvenience your mother. I’m sure she just wants to get home to you kids.”

“Mum doesn’t mind, right?” said Jonas.

“Not at all,” Gideon said monotonously. “Please, I insist.”

“All right then,” Rip said awkwardly.

Gideon cleared her throat. “Mind if I say bye to my children?”

“Oh, of course. Bye you two.” He waved at them both. “I’ll just be here.” He stepped to the side. Gideon stared at him and he moved a few more feet back. When he had finally moved an acceptable distance, she spoke again.

“Okay, I’ll be home tonight. I love you both.”

“Please try not to kill him?” Jonas asked nicely.

“I’ll do my best. Love you.” She blew them kisses and memorized their responses before finally hanging up. Gideon sighed and looked at Rip. “Come on then. It’s a four hour drive back. Might as well get started.”

“You don’t have to,” he said, hurrying after her. “I would be grateful just for a ride to the train station.”

“So would I. But I told my kids I would drive you so I am. I don’t lie to my children.” They entered the parking garage and Gideon fished her keys out of her purse, pressing the button until she heard the beep. “Over here.” She opened up the trunk and saw Rip staring back warily. “Oh for goodness sake, I’m not going to stuff you in the trunk! I just need to put all these pamphlets away and change out of my heels.”

Rip shrugged. “I couldn’t be too sure.”

“You’d be too big for me to move anyway.” Gideon huffed and pulled out her flats and dropped them to the ground. One hand on the bumper, she balanced as she took a heel off. Rip reached out as if to help and was met with a glare. “I’ve got it.”

“Right. Sorry.” He watched her silently for a moment as she changed shoes. “Miranda used to do that too. Always change out of heels when she didn’t need to wear them anymore.”

Gideon dropped her heels back in the trunk and sighed in relief. “They’re murder and I’m certainly not driving four hours in them.” She had also brought a change of clothes but she wouldn’t have time to change now, not with Rip around. “Get in. You can ride in the passenger seat.”

Rip nodded and they both sat in the car. Gideon pulled out in reverse and they left the parking garage. She put in her house as the destination on the GPS and they started on their way.

“I want to make it clear that I’m not taking you home to my children. I’ll just be dropping you off at your place,” Gideon said. They could be as disappointed as they liked. It was her night with them, not Rip’s.

“Understood.”

They rode in silence for a while. Gideon glanced over and saw Rip loosening his tie, clearly uncomfortable.

“You can take the suit jacket off if you want. And turn up the AC, it’s fine.”

“Are you sure?” he asked.

“It’s fine.”

He maneuvered around his seatbelt to pull off his jacket and fiddled with the AC. “Thank you.”

“Mmm.”

“You were great in your panel by the way.”

Gideon frowned. “You watched?”

“I was able to get away for a bit and saw Ray’s name and yours. I was curious.”

“And you understood it all?” she asked in surprise.

“Yes,” he said curtly.

Gideon winced, realizing how she had sounded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to come out that way. The amount of men in my field that question my brains is bad enough.” They all thought she’d slept her way to the top. “I just meant that with you being a chef, I didn’t think you would have an interest in Artificial Intelligence and robotics.”

“I wasn’t always a chef,” Rip admitted. “I used to be an engineer. Nowhere near as brilliant as you. It was nice, paid the bills…but it wasn’t what I wanted. After giving up Jonas…we were lost for a while. I quit my job, opened a bakery, and soon the bakery turned into a restaurant.”

“Multiple restaurants.”

Rip smiled. “Multiple restaurants.” Whenever they moved, he’d start a new one. They were always trying to find a forever home, but always realized they could never have one without their son. Despite the decision they had made at the time, it was one they had regretted in the years that passed. “We missed him a lot,” he said quietly. The second the words left his mouth he knew it was the wrong thing to say. He watched as Gideon’s face contorted.

“Well he’s mine now,” Gideon finally said. Her hands clenched on the wheel.

“I know. But I do love him.”

“Well, you gave him up,” Gideon said harshly.

“I know.” Rip sighed loudly, leaning his head back, watching the scenery change as the road winded by the waterfront. “But we thought of him every day.”

Gideon snorted. “How nice of you.”

“I know you don’t like me-”

“I don’t.”

“But I am his father.”

“Just because he shares half your DNA doesn’t make you his dad. And we agreed, those children are mine.”

“I just want to know he’s happy.”

“He is.”

“How’s he doing? Has he managed to ask Sara out yet?”

Gideon slammed on the brakes so hard, skidding to the shoulder, that Rip would have hit the window shield of the car had it not been for his seat belt.

“Bloody hell! What was that? You could have gotten us killed!” Rip yelled at her, watching as the cars pass by. “Why did we stop? What’s wrong?”

Gideon hit the hazard lights and glared at him. “He told you about Sara?” she asked quietly, voice eerily calm for someone who looked so angry.

“Jonas might have mentioned her, yes.”

“To you. To a man he barely knows – he talks about his crush to you?” Gideon inhaled sharply and hit the hazard lights again, turning them off. She threw the car into drive and got back on the road, just narrowly missing the car behind them who honked loudly.

“What are you doing?” Rip asked worriedly, scared that she would actually try to murder him now. “Gideon, where are we going?” he asked again as they got off the main road and headed down the beach, completely ignoring the GPS.

Gideon parked the car in the sand and got out, kicking off her shoes and running out onto the beach. Rip stared for a moment before following after her. He watched as Gideon screamed at the skies and threw pebbles into the water. Rip walked quietly behind her as her screaming turned to loud sobbing.

“Gideon?” He reached for her shoulder, hand hovering over her.

“I wish you were dead,” she whispered. Rip dropped his hand to his side. Gideon wiped her eyes and sniffled. “I know that’s cruel and awful, and I don’t mean it…at least I hope I don’t. But if you were gone…Jonas wouldn’t have gone looking for you. You wouldn’t be in our lives. He wouldn’t need you, want to love you. I wouldn’t be losing my baby.”

She gasped and the tears ran anew. “And he tells you about Sara and he’ll want to be with you. And now you’ve seen me break down and you’ll take him from me and they’ll let you and he can’t be away from Teeny! He can’t! They’re family, they’re brother and sister even before I knew them and you can’t separate them and please, please no-”

“Gideon, Gideon!” Rip grabbed her by the arms and forced her to look up at him. “Look at me. Look at me!”

Gideon whimpered as she stifled her tears.

“I told you I wouldn’t take him,” he said gruffly. No matter how much he wanted to. “Jonas loves you,” he said tightly. “You are not the only one having a hard time with this. How do you think I feel every time I have to hear my son call you ‘Mum’ and me by my first name? I should be his dad, Miranda should be-” Rip stopped himself and stared out at the water as Gideon hiccupped. He let her go. “He probably wouldn’t want to be with me anyway.”

Gideon wiped her tears away, breathing deeply, and threw a rock halfheartedly into the water.

“Feel better now? Done screaming at the world?” he asked. Rip lost track of how many nights he’d snuck out as a child, angry with everything around him. Had he not had his mother he wouldn’t have made it this far.

“The kids don’t like it when I shout so I don’t in front of them,” she said simply. She had learned other outlets, even if they weren’t all the healthiest. Gideon stood up and brushed the sand off her clothes. She refused to look at him as they began their trudge back to the car. She picked up her discarded shoes from the ground. “Small detour, we’ll make up for lost time. Couple more hours to go. Have to get you home like I promised my kids.”

“And get you back to your children.”

“Yes.”

They both got back into the car. Gideon reversed the car out of the sand and got them back on the road, allowing the GPS to direct them back home. The rest of the drive was quiet.


	9. Chapter 9

Jax whistled softly when he saw Sirens. He had heard of it, always wanted to take his mom there on a special occasion, or maybe Martin, but it never happened. Now here he was, on a first name basis with the owner. Car keys in hand he walked into the front door and was immediately stopped by the hostess.

“We’re still closed,” she said.

“Oh no, it’s all right. I know the owner.” Jax tried to move past her and she stopped him again.

“Funny. As the manager of the restaurant, so do I.”

Jax glanced down at her name tag. “Kendra? I promise you, I do know Rip.”

“Rip doesn’t have too many friends. How exactly do you know him?”

Jax saw Rip appear behind her and grinned. “I’m his baby daddy.”

“Excuse me?”

“He’s Teeny’s father,” Rip said hurriedly, a hint of a smile on his face. “Thank you, Kendra. Have you got everything tonight? It’s a big night and-”

“And I will not bother you once,” Kendra promised. She looked over at Jax and gave him a sweet smile. “Your daughter is just adorable.”

“Yeah, she is.”

“Come on, let’s get going. We don’t want to be late,” said Rip. It would just give Gideon more ammunition. He patted Jax’s shoulder moving him away from Kendra and towards the door.

“So, Kendra…” Jax trailed off, still thinking of how pretty she had been.

Rip caught the look in his eye. “No, no, you are not dating my employee.”

“Come on, man, just a coffee? I mean you and me, we’re practically family.”

“All the more reason not to. And I don’t think Gideon would see it that way,” Rip muttered. He had been surprised to even get an invite to Jonas’ soccer game. The woman seemed dead set on keeping them from any sort of milestone their children had.

Jax stopped suddenly.

“What is it?” Rip asked, turning around when he realized the other man wasn’t with him.

Jax shrugged. “Just, are you okay with me coming? I mean he’s your kid, I know-”

“Yes, yes, of course I am. Jonas wants you there, obviously. And it’s important for you to see Teeny too.”

Jax smiled, thinking of his daughter. “You know, these days the first thing I do when I meet someone, I wanna tell them I’m a dad. And I wanna reach in my pocket, show them her picture or something…and then I realize I don’t have any. Not a single picture of her.”

Rip swallowed. “Nor I of Jonas. We gave him away immediately.” He had been too busy consoling his crying girlfriend to take any pictures at the time.

“Do you think Gideon might give us some?”

Rip snorted. “Maybe when pigs fly.”

Jax sighed. “You’re probably right.” They got into his car. “So, should we get chocolate or flowers? Chocolate and flowers? Perfume? Jewellery? Balloons? I don’t know what this woman wants anymore!”

“For us to be gone,” Rip said despondently.

“You think there’s a support group for this type of stuff?”

“My child has been adopted and their adopted mother won’t let me see them? I believe there are lawyers.”

Jax shook his head. “That’s not what would be best for Teeny.”

“Or Jonas,” Rip said sadly. “Let’s do flowers for Jonas, chocolate for Gideon and Teeny. Balloons too.”

“Awesome.”

“And thank you for the ride by the way.”

“Sure thing, strength in numbers. And you know, the next time you need your car looked at, just bring it to me. I’ll get it done on time and won’t hit you with a surprise bill at the end. Friends and family discount. Just for you.”

* * *

“Rip, Jax, over here!” Ray waved at them from the bleachers. Gideon sat on his other side, staring straight ahead at the field, clearly ignoring him. Teeny was on the other side of her, dressed in the high school colours. Rip spied a home made sign leaning against Gideon’s legs.

Jax waved back with a smile. “Those two are always together, think something is going on there?”

“Not sure,” Rip said honestly. “Didn’t seem like it but you never know.”

“We are so glad you guys could make it,” Ray said happily as they joined them. “Oh, look, they brought presents too.”

“What’s for me?” Teeny asked immediately.

“Balloons for you to hold on to,” Jax said going to sit next to his daughter.

“We got chocolates for us to snack on and flowers for Jonas for after. If that’s all right,” Rip added.

“He’ll love them,” Ray said eagerly, patting the spot next to him for Rip to sit.

Gingerly, Rip sat down, trying to catch Gideon’s eye but she refused to acknowledge them. He shared a look with Jax. “We wanted to thank you for inviting us.”

“Yeah, especially me,” Jax added. “I know he’s not my kid but I wanna be here.”

“We’re happy to have you. More fans for Jonas,” Ray said. He glanced at Gideon and nudged her. “Gideon, isn’t there something you would like to say? Gideon?”

They watched as Gideon chewed the inside of her cheek, clearly not wanting to say what she had to say. “I wanted to thank you both for coming,” she said quietly. “And for being on time. It means a lot to the kids…that they can depend on you…for that.”

“Of course.”

“Any time.”

“Oh look, it’s starting!” Teeny said excitedly. She grinned as the band stood at the sidelines. “Next year, that’s going to be me!”

“Well, good. I’ll get to cheer you on from the sidelines too,” said Jax.

Rip was surprised when Gideon didn’t make any biting comment.

“So how long has Jonas been playing?” he asked Ray.

“I think he started around eight or ten, right Gideon?”

“Ten,” Gideon said. “He was ten.”

“Loved it immediately. Went a lot better than Little League.”

“Did you do all that with him?” Rip asked, wondering if this man had replaced him as a father figure in his son’s life.

Ray laughed and shook his head. “No, Gideon did. I mean, I went to games when I could to help cheer them on, but no, sports and I have never really gotten along. At least nothing that involves a lot of hand-eye coordination.”

“Yeah, I was never much one for them either,” Rip admitted.

“So how many musical instruments can you play?” Jax’s conversation with Teeny drifted across the group.

“Clarinet, piano, violin. I want to do the guitar too, but Mum says it’ll be too much for me. So I’m sticking to the clarinet and piano for now.”

“Yeah, your Mom’s probably right. That sounds like a lot!”

“Oh, look Mum, there’s Sara!” Teeny pointed to a teenage girl sitting a few rows away with her own family and friends. “I bet she came to see Jonas.”

Gideon laughed softly and kissed Teeny’s hair. “Sure, darling. Sure.” She turned back to look at the field.

Rip glanced at the girl his son apparently had a crush on, remembering his own infatuation with Miranda at that age. When he glanced at Gideon again, she was still staring ahead blankly. He leaned closer to Ray, “Is she all right with us being here?”

“She’s fine,” Ray assured him. He looked at Gideon and put an arm around her shoulders. “You cold?”

“No.”

“Hungry? Rip and Jax brought chocolates and I see the concession stand about to open.”

“No.”

“Thirsty?”

“No! Ray, I’m fine!” Gideon turned to glare at him.

“Then you should put a smile on.” Ray grinned over her shoulder. “Here comes your son.”

Gideon whipped around and sure enough, the players were entering the field. She got to her feet, clapping and hollering, cheering her son on. Jonas saw her from the field and waved, his smile widening when he saw Rip, who quickly waved back. Gideon glanced at the man for a second before cheering even louder for her son.

“She’s enthusiastic,” Rip said.

“Loud and proud soccer mom,” Ray said proudly.

One that clearly garnered the attention of other parents, especially the husbands. “Perhaps she should sit down now?”

Ray paused for a moment before glancing at their surroundings. “Gideon, looks like they’re about to start. You should sit so people can see. You’re not as short as you think you are.”

“Aww, Ray, you sweet talker.” Gideon smiled, still looking at Jonas as she settled back down, grabbing Ray’s arm around her and resting her head on his shoulder. Ray smiled and kissed the top of her head before she straightened up again, wanting to see Jonas in action.

Rip focused on the game again. Every single time Jonas had the ball, Gideon was back on her feet, cheering loudly. Teeny also stood, waving the sign around for her brother. Ray did nothing to stop her, simply smiled whenever she stood up. Rip for his part kept his eyes mainly trained on his son. Miranda would have loved to have been here, watching this. She would have been so proud.

At some point in the third quarter, Jonas had the ball again, heading down the field.

“Go, go, go!” Gideon yelled, jumping up and down.

“He’s gonna go for the goal, right, right? He’s gotta!” Jax said, just as excitedly, clutching his daughter’s hand.

Even Rip found himself caught up in the excitement, watching as Jonas passed the ball to a teammate who carried it down the field before passing it back to Jonas.

“Take the shot, take the shot!” Jax yelled.

“Come on, Jonas, you can do it!” Rip shouted.

Gideon watched with a brilliant smile on her face. “Come on, baby,” she whispered under her breath. “I’m proud of you no matter what.”

Jonas kicked the ball, just narrowly making it inside the net.

“Goal! Goal! That’s a goal! Did you see that?” Jax yelled up on his feet, cheering and clapping.

Rip somehow found himself on his feet too. “That was amazing! Amazing!”

“Go Jonas!” Ray cheered, also getting on his feet.

Jax reached across to high five Rip which he returned. “Your son just scored a goal!”

“I know!” Rip cheered. He glanced at Gideon, ready for her berating. But her eyes were only on Jonas, smiling at him, blowing him a kiss.

Teeny was the only one remaining seated among the cheering adults. “You guys do realize they’re still losing, right? Yeesh. Sit down already.”

All the men stared at each other awkwardly before quietly sitting down again. Gideon rolled her eyes and kissed Teeny’s head.

“We’re cheering because we’re proud of your brother. Just like I am whenever you play at a recital. Doesn’t matter if you win or not, I’m always proud,” Gideon told her.

Rip smiled at that. All things considered; it was a good game.

* * *

“We lost,” Jonas said miserably as he made his way to his mother.

She kissed his cheeks and smiled. “Only by a little. And you got a goal. I’m so proud of you.”

“Barely.”

“I’m still proud.”

Jonas sighed, still not pleased with the outcome.

“You did really well,” Rip said earnestly. “Winning doesn’t always matter.”

Jax snorted. “I know how you feel man,” he told the teenager, “it sucks that you didn’t win.”

“Yeah,” he said, still upset.

Gideon ruffled his hair. “Want to go home?”

Jonas shrugged and looked at Rip and Jax. “We could go to pizza? The team and their families are going.”

“Oh,” Gideon looked a tad bit disappointed but nodded. “Of course. Pizza it is.”

Rip cleared his throat. “And is that invitation open to us as well?”

Gideon glanced at them. “Fine. We’ll see you there. Come on kids, let’s go to the car, we can talk more at the pizza place. You two can follow our car.”

Rip and Jax trailed behind the four of them.

“Do you think she’s going to ditch us?” asked Jax.

“I think you should drive fast to keep up,” Rip replied. He looked at the milling parents and students, how more than one husband strayed their eyes over to Gideon, and the wives eyed Ray. He quirked a smile, they both seemed oblivious to it.

* * *

Jax looked around when they entered the pizza place, surprised to find the four of them waiting at the front, still waiting to be seated. Ray grinned when he saw the two of them.

“You guys made it!” he exclaimed. “We were worried we lost you.”

“Yeah, well, you kind of zipped through that yellow light.”

Gideon shrugged. “I did my best and I don’t control the traffic lights.” She looked back at the hostess. “Booth for six. Thank you.”

Rip and Jax followed them quietly and they all settled in at their seats. It wasn’t even five minutes until Jonas was waving at his friends as they entered the pizza place.

“Mum, can I-”

“Fine,” she said.

“Really?” Jonas’ eyes widened.

“Yes, go be with your friends.”

Jonas smiled excitedly before sheepishly remembering about Rip. “Would it be okay if…”

“Oh, yes, of course. No, your mother is right. You deserve a night with your friends,” Rip said, shoving aside his hurt feelings.

“Thanks! We’ll hang out another time, I promise!” Jonas kissed his mom and ran off to his friends.

Rip sipped his drink quietly, wondering what to do now that his son was gone.

“Oh, Teeny, look. They have air hockey. Want to play a round while we wait on our food?” Gideon asked.

“Yeah!” Teeny grabbed her mother’s hand and they both ran off to the other side of the restaurant in the arcade area.

“I think we just got played,” Jax said bluntly.

“What you mean she just took away one of our few opportunities to bond with our children? No, really, why ever would you think that?” Rip responded drily. It was clear the woman wanted nothing to do with them.

“I think you’re both being a little hard on her, don’t you think?”

Both Rip and Jax startled, completely forgetting that Ray was still there.

“Sorry,” Rip said contritely. “But you have to admit, she is making this hard on us.”

“And it was hard on her to get her children in the first place,” Ray said. “She had to wait over two years to be able to adopt them properly. And for the last ten years she’s been the primary adult in their lives, looking after them, taking care of them, it’s going to take her a little time to let go.”

“We just want a fair shot and she won’t even give it to us,” Jax said.

Ray laughed and shook his head. “No, no, you do. Gideon’s had a rough time too, she’s slow to trust. But believe me, when she does it’s worth it. Took her a while with me too.”

The waiter came by and Ray put in the usual order, allowing Rip and Jax to make their selections as well.

“You two are close, aren’t you?” Rip asked when the server left. “You’ve been with her since the kids?”

“Before that too. But yeah, the kids definitely brought us closer. It would have been hard on her to do everything alone, I tried to help where I could.”

“That’s very kind of you.”

“I try.” Ray frowned suddenly and stood up, giving them a quick smile. “Excuse me, I’m gonna go check on Gideon and Teeny. Let them know the food is on the way.”

The pair watched Ray walk over to Gideon, putting an arm around her waist and turning her away and out of the line of sight from the man that had been gazing at her from the corner.

“Guess he’s noticed it too,” Jax muttered.

“It would seem so,” Rip said in return.

Jax shook his head and stood up. “I’m gonna get a refill on my drink. You want anything?”

“Lemonade if they have it, or else just water. Thanks.”

Jax nodded and took the cups and headed to the drinks machine. He placed one cup under and selected the drink, watched it fill up. He was about to fill up the next glass when a conversation perked his ears.

“Shameless, isn’t she?” one woman laughed. “Bad enough she’s always toying with Palmer’s emotions, now she’s stringing along two other men?”

“Do you think she has them on rotation?” the other one laughed.

The first woman positively cackled. “Oh, the tragedy of being a single mom and a harem of men waiting for her. Please, she does the bare minimum for bake sales because she’s oh so busy at her fancy job.”

“Which you know she only got because she and Palmer are totally sleeping together.”

“Obviously. Why else would a man like that stick around for a decade if he’s not getting some?”

Jax’s blood boiled as he realized who they were talking about. “Hey!” he shouted at them, probably louder than he should have. When they turned to look at him, it was obvious they recognized who he was, that he was with Gideon. Immediately they looked contrite but it wasn’t enough for him. “Either of you wanna talk about something useful like where your kids are? Or how your husbands keep staring at woman that aren’t you? Or you gonna keep running your mouth and trash talking a nice lady because you feel unfulfilled?”

One of the woman gasped, clearly irate and pulled her friend away, muttering as they left. Jax huffed, good riddance! He turned around to return to his task when he saw Gideon standing behind him.

“Oh – I just – they were being mean,” he said apologetically.

She stepped up next to him silently. Jax filled up his cup while Gideon grabbed some napkins. “Ray sent me to get some cutleries for the table. Don’t tell him what you heard?”

Jax stopped and looked at her. “You’ve already known, haven’t you?”

“It’s nothing I haven’t heard before. Most of the other mothers don’t like me very much, and the husbands…it’s better if Ray doesn’t know. He’ll worry and I don’t need him to worry.”

“Is that why you’ve been so…” Cold? Detached? Distant?

“Pizza nights with the PTA crowd isn’t exactly my favourite place to be,” Gideon grimaced. “But the kids like it.”

“I won’t tell Ray.”

“Thank you.”

Jax finished filling his cup and allowed Gideon to walk ahead of him back to the table. He caught sight of Ray and Teeny playing another game and smiled at them. When he got back to the table, Rip was sitting there with the pizzas in front of him, but his eyes were on Jonas sitting a few tables away.

“Hey man,” Jax greeted.

“Hi, sorry, let me help you with all that.” Rip took his glass from Jax and started to help Gideon set out the napkins and other condiments. “I did tell Ray and Teeny that the pizza was here but they wanted to play another game. And I assumed Jonas would be busy with friends,” he told Gideon.

“That’s fine. Thank you.” Gideon managed to give him a small smile as she sat down.

Rip smiled back softly. Jax took it as progress. Maybe now would be a good time to ask…

Jax cleared his throat. “Actually, um, Gideon, there is something else, that we wanted to ask you.”

“What is it?” she asked warily.

“We did?” Rip asked confusedly.

“Yeah,” he gave Rip a look. “Actually, I was wondering if – if I could have a picture of Teeny? Maybe a couple of baby pictures? Some recent ones?”

“What to keep in your wallet and pull out like an obnoxious father?” Gideon joked, grabbing a slice of pizza for herself.

“Well, yeah.”

She paused when she heard his serious tone. Gideon looked to Rip. “And you don’t have any pictures either?”

“We thought it would hurt less, if we didn’t keep reminders. But I would like them, if you’d be willing.”

Gideon took a bite of her pizza and chewed slowly. When she swallowed, she said, “I don’t have baby pictures, didn’t know either of them that young and they didn’t give those to me. But I could look through the albums, give you copies of some of them. But I’m in many of them.”

“That’s fine,” Jax assured her. “It would just be great, to show people my baby girl.”

Rip nodded. “And a full-sized picture? So I can keep Jonas next to his mo – Miranda.”

“I carry pictures of them too. Okay, I’ll make some copies.”

“Brilliant.”

“Thank you!”

Jax looked at her small smile and grinned. Progress indeed.


	10. Chapter 10

_The door opened and Gideon smiled at Amaya. “Thank you so much again,” she gushed. “Work ran later than expected and-”_

_Amaya held up a hand to stop her, laughing. “It’s no problem, really, Gideon. They’re great kids.”_

_“They are.” Gideon smiled to herself. “And Teeny adores you. It’s good for her, probably, to you know, have someone like her, that is…”_

_“Someone who’s Black?” Amaya raised an eyebrow._

_Gideon spluttered. “No, I didn’t mean-”_

_“It’s not a bad word, Gideon. I’m proud of being a Black woman.”_

_Gideon blushed some more and nodded. “I know you are. I’m sorry. My brain sometimes doesn’t think before my mouth starts.”_

_“It happens.”_

_“But I am grateful,” Gideon said again. “I do want Teeny to be proud of who she is. She hasn’t noticed the looks we get yet, but she will when she’s older and I don’t want her to have any doubts of my love in her over a simple thing like skin colour.”_

_“You’re a good mother.”_

_“Trying to be,” Gideon said with a sigh. Between Teeny’s hyperactivity and Jonas’ dyslexia, she ran herself a bit too hard. “And thank you again, for the advice on Teeny’s hair. I’m practicing and I think I’ve gotten better now. She says I don’t pull as much.”_

_“That’s really good.”_

_Gideon looked around, craning her neck to see her kids._

_“They’re in the backyard. Come on.” Amaya led her through her house towards the sliding glass doors in the back. “So I was thinking maybe we could have dinner this weekend?” she said casually._

_“Of course, I’m sure the kids would love-”_

_“I actually meant the two of us. Without the kids.”_

_Gideon stopped still in her tracks and looked at her. “The two of us?”_

_Amaya looked back at her and nodded, inching closer. “Mmhmm.”_

_“Without the kids?”_

_“It’s not that I don’t think they’re great, I would just like to spend a little more time getting to know you better.” Amaya reached out and interlocked her fingers with Gideon’s._

_Gideon stared at her dumbly. “So, this dinner is like a…”_

_“A date.”_

_“A date,” she repeated._

_Amaya’s brow furrowed and she stepped back a bit. “I’m sorry. Did I misread the signs? I thought you-”_

_“No, I do!” Gideon said hurriedly, blushing madly. “I mean, I think you’re sweet and pretty and gorgeous,” she babbled, “I just – I haven’t dated since…well, since before the kids. I’m a bit rusty.”_

_“I can take it slow.”_

_Gideon chewed on her bottom lip and looked out to her kids in the backyard. They loved playing at Amaya’s. “Sure, dinner would be lovely.”_

_Amaya smiled brilliantly. “Okay, then let’s get you to your kids.” She opened the sliding doors and her kids came running to her._

_Gideon managed to catch Teeny in her arms first, giving and emphatic ‘oof’ and then held an arm out for Jonas, who was always the more reserved of the two. Still, he clung to her tightly and Gideon relished every second of it._

_“Were you two good?” she asked._

_“Yes.”_

_“Yes, we were,” Teeny said more than her brother. “Maya was lots of fun!”_

_“Amaya,” Jonas corrected._

_“That’s what I said!” Teeny’s face contorted into a pout, threatening to spill tears over the mistake._

_Gideon quickly kissed both their cheeks. “Come on, let’s say bye and we’ll go home and clean up.”_

_“Bye Maya.”_

_“Bye Amaya, thank you.”_

_Gideon smiled and looked back at Amaya. “Thank you. And call me. For dinner.”_

* * *

“Okay, just one more.”

“Mum!” Jonas glared at his mother, huffing in his suit. Gideon pouted at him as she held the camera.

“It’ll be the last one,” she insisted.

“That’s what you said about the last three!”

“Well, this time I mean it.”

Jonas sighed and plastered a smile on his face as Gideon snapped another picture. She took a look at it and nodded. “Maybe one more!”

“Are you kidding me?!”

Ray took the camera from her hands as Gideon protested and set it down on the table. “I think he’s had enough pictures, you got plenty.”

“I’m trying to memorialize the event.”

“You memorialize everything,” Jonas said. Every first day of school, every birthday, every single thing.

Gideon looked at him disheartened. “Fine, I’ll stop.” She stepped forward. “Let me just fix your bowtie.”

“Mum! Gideon!” Jonas complained as Gideon straightened his tie and smoothed his hair and wiped a smudge from his cheek.

“Perfect.” Gideon looked at him, wondering when the boy before her had grown up so much. He was taller than her now.

“You’re making too big a deal out of this. I don’t even have a date to the dance.”

“Because you were too chicken to ask out Sara.” Even when trying to tease, Teeny’s voice fell flat as she sat on the stairs, watching the scene ahead of her. Ray squeezed her shoulder. She had been pouting all day that Jonas got a school dance and she didn’t.

“School dances aren’t that amazing. You’re not missing anything, Teeny,” Jonas reassured her.

Teeny groaned loudly and lied back flat on the landing. “Says you! You’re still going!”

Jonas stepped forward but Gideon stopped him, shaking her head. “She’ll be fine,” she whispered. “Don’t worry. She’ll pout for a bit and then I’ll give her some ice cream.”

“All right.” Jonas didn’t sound convinced.

“You just have a good time.” Gideon kissed his cheek, quickly noticing her lip gloss had rubbed off on his cheek. She grabbed a tissue and began wiping the spot.

“Mum!”

“Imagine what she’ll be like at your wedding,” Ray joked.

Gideon froze at his words, her eyes glazing over with tears.

“Oh no,” Jonas muttered. He held onto Gideon’s hands. “Mum, I’m sixteen. I’m not getting married for a very, very long time. Please don’t cry already!”

“Who’s crying? I’m not crying. My baby’s growing up but I’m not crying. I’m not!” Gideon’s voice grew rough as she looked away, focusing on the light fixtures.

“See what you did?” Jonas told Ray.

“Sorry,” he said.

Gideon cleared her throat and shook her head. “I’m fine. And you’re going to be late. You’re picking up William. Now, Jonas, I know you might want to go to parties afterward, and at these parties there might be alcohol-”

“Mum,” Jonas groaned.

Gideon took hold of his chin and made him look at her sans the eye rolling. “This is serious,” she said. “If you drink, even a little, you will not drive. I don’t care if you think you’re fine, I don’t care if you’re scared I’ll be mad, you will not drink and drive. I’m not losing my son to stupidity.”

“Promise, Mum. I won’t be drinking anyway. Just the dance and then I’ll come home.”

“Okay, just text me if it gets late so I don’t think you’re lying dead in a ditch somewhere.”

“All right. Can I go now?”

Gideon sighed and nodded. “Okay. I love you.”

“Love you too, Mum.” Jonas kissed her cheek and headed out to his car.

Gideon watched from the doorway, waving as he pulled out. Once the car disappeared down the street, she closed the door and turned back. Ray cleared his throat and nodded at Teeny, still lying in despair on the stairs. Gideon smiled softly.

“Teeny? Why don’t we have our own dance at home since Jonas went out?” she said.

“Won’t be as fun.”

“Says you. Come on, darling. We’ll get the music going, make some punch, we’ll order in pizza and do movies too.”

Teeny sat up slowly. “And I can dress up?”

“Oh darling, you must absolutely dress up! This is a dance after all.”

Teeny grinned and ran upstairs. Gideon sighed and Ray put an arm around her shoulders, allowing her to lean against him as he led her to the living room. She sat down and sagged against him as he held her.

“Teenagers are so hard,” she complained.

“You’re doing good,” he assured her. “Before you know it you’ll be free of them completely.”

“Don’t joke,” she muttered.

Ray sighed, clearly trying to figure out how to say what he wanted without coming off as rude.

“Spit it out, Ray.”

“Maybe you should try dating again.”

“Excuse me?” Gideon raised an eyebrow.

Ray shrugged. “Well, you haven’t really had a proper relationship since the kids, and even before then...I think it was only Amaya.”

“Well hey, you’re single,” Gideon started, leaning against him and fluttering her eyelashes, “what do you say? Want to date me?”

“Quit it!” He shoved her, clearly uncomfortable with the prospect.

Gideon snorted and laid her head down in his lap and let him stroke her hair. “Then don’t make stupid suggestions.”

“It’s not stupid. Gideon, your life revolves around these kids. And that’s not a bad thing, but I do worry about you. Jonas only has another year and half before he goes to college. And I just worry what will happen to you.”

“They’re my babies,” she murmured.

“They’ll always be your babies. But your babies are growing up and I think you’re going to get stuck in the past.”

“And the solution is dating?”

“I just don’t want you to wake up one day and think you’re alone.”

“Well, you’ll stay, won’t you?” she asked quietly.

“Of course, I will. Like you even need to ask.”

Still, Gideon sighed in relief. Ray smiled and stroked her hair.

“Hey, maybe the dads will stick around too after.”

Gideon rolled her eyes. “As if. Why would they? All they care about is their children.”

“You could be nicer to them.”

“I am nice.”

“Nicer. They’re trying really hard to impress you.”

“Yeah, to get their children.”

Ray shook his head, knowing how stubborn she was and wouldn’t see rational reason unless she wanted to.

“Mum! I’m ready” Teeny’s footsteps came thundering down the stairs and she skidded into the living room.

Gideon sat up and smiled at her. “Darling, you look beautiful.”

Teeny smiled, having worn one of her old ballgowns from a play she’d done. Gideon had bought the dress for cheap and then had worked tirelessly to add her own embellishes, making it fitting for a princess. Teeny’s face fell when she saw them.

“You’re not dressed,” she said.

Gideon looked down at her PJs. “Oh yes, suppose I need to do that.” And here she had hoped for a quiet night dressed comfy. Time to break out the heels again. “Tell you what, darling, why don’t you start off with a dance with Ray while I get changed, hmm?”

“Okay.”

Ray stood up and held out his hand while Gideon went to the stereo and started some music.

“Milady?” Ray said. Teeny laughed and took his hand and let him lead her in a slow waltz across the floor, quietly explaining the footwork and count.

Gideon smiled at the sight of the two of them. She didn’t need anything else but her family. No dating for her.

* * *

_“Now this one says high fibre but this one says low sugar,” Ray mused as he contemplated the brands of cereal. “Well, I suppose we should just go with the chocolate flavoured, right? They seemed to like that last time.”_

_“Are you doing this because you want to have sex with me?”_

_Ray nearly dropped the box of cereal and looked around, seeing an elderly lady, he smiled, politely and looked back at Gideon. “What?”_

_“Do you want to have sex with me? Is that why you’re doing this?” Gideon glanced at the space between them, as if contemplating whether she was supposed to drag him to an empty supply closet and get the deed over with. Ray blushed heavily._

_“I – no, Gideon, no.”_

_“Then why are you being so nice?” she hissed._

_Ray blinked. “People can be nice without ulterior motives. It’s a thing.”_

_Gideon crossed her arms. “Not in my experience.” Ever since she’d told Ray she wanted to adopt he had been nothing but sweet to her. She’d only had them for a month in her custody and he had been over almost every weekend, and multiple weeknights, insisting she can continue to work from home during this transition. It was nauseating._

_“Well, I’m nice.”_

_“Because you want sex?”_

_“Would you please stop saying that?” he begged, hoping no one would overhear her._

_“Well then why are you doing this? You’re my boss and you’re being….nice!”_

_Ray smiled at her. “I know you’re my employee, I also know that being a single mother is hard and it’s something you chose to do. I don’t want you to have to do it all alone.”_

_“I don’t understand what you want from me,” she grumbled._

_“I just want to be friends.”_

_“But why?” she demanded. “It doesn’t make sense.”_

_Ray put the cereal into the shopping cart. “Why did you choose Teeny and Jonas?”_

_Gideon blinked, taking a step back. “What?”_

_“Why Teeny and Jonas? How did you know that you wanted them?”_

_“I don’t know. I just did.”_

_“So why can’t I know that I want to be friends with you? Just because.”_

_“Because it’s not the same!” she insisted. Gideon sighed and looked away, wringing her hands together. “Jonas and Teeny, it was different, it was instant, love at first sight, like, like lightning. Like being struck by lightning.”_

_“So, you and me, why can’t that be like lightning?”_

_Gideon gave him a depreciating smile. “Because no one is lucky enough to have lightning strike twice. Doesn’t happen.”_

_“Except it did for you, didn’t it?” Ray said. “Teeny and Jonas. Two of them. Both like lightning.”_

_Gideon smiled, looking down at the snacks they’d bought for the kids. “Yeah, it was.” She hoped they’d come to love her just as much._

_“Look, Gideon,” Ray tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder but quickly dropped it when he saw her reaction, “I don’t have any romantic interests in you. You don’t have to worry about that.”_

_The way Gideon held herself protectively made Ray wonder just what she had gone through that she couldn’t believe this much of him._

_“The truth is, is that I’m a little lonely.”_

_“You are?”_

_Ray shrugged. “After my fiancée, Anna…well, I’m not that close with my family either. So yeah, I’m lonely and you always seemed alone too…so I figure why not just be friends?”_

_Gideon chewed her lip. “Maybe we can try. But you’re still my boss too.”_

_“I promise not to abuse my power.”_

_“All right.” She still held herself defensively as she started wheeling the cart forward and Ray hoped one day he would understand what went on in that brain of hers. “Come on. We promised Jonas we’d be back in twenty minutes at the play place and I’m not starting off being a mother with a broken promise.”_

_“Of course.” Ray ran along to catch up to her. “By the way, I think you’re gonna be a great mom.”_

_Gideon smiled softly. “Thank you, Ray.”_


End file.
